The Fox Who Tried
by LVR6
Summary: When Naruto is thrown into another world, he soon finds out that this strange world called Remnant isn't any better off than the Elemental Nations. When he seems to find peace in a simple life, he'll soon find out that no matter where he goes, tragedy is determined to follow him.
1. Good Things Must Come to an End

**A/N**

 **I try to not make a habit of putting these notes in the beginning of a chapter, but I must warn that this story is significantly darker than any of my other works. If you don't want to read that sort of thing, now's your chance to back out. If you are, please read the second Author's Note at the bottom for a bit of explanation of this chapter.**

* * *

The Fox Who Tried: Chapter One; Good Things Must Come to an End

* * *

It has been a few weeks, and there was still no sign of civilization. The trees brought a feeling of foreboding, as if his every movement was being watched. However, this was not a new feeling to the boy, in fact, he had grown numb to murderous glares long ago. He continued to walk through the thick forest, determined to find food and water. The boy was no older than fourteen, and his once bright orange jumpsuit was filthy and torn apart, exposing his plain black shirt underneath. His pants were soon too big for his shrinking body, so he tied his headband around his waist to hold them up. His stomach rumbled, but he knew nothing about the plants in this strange new world he found himself in.

Yes, he was aware he was in a new world, and it didn't take him long to figure out. The evidence was all there; there was the thick trees that weren't anything like the ones back home, and the fact that he's seen several strange black birds flying around. The boy also didn't fail to see that some of his techniques failed to work properly while he was here. Sure, these could all be easily explained as him being under a genjutsu, but he had stabbed himself and flared his chakra to dissipate any such illusions.

No, what finally convinced him was the goddamn moon. It was half shattered, and he swore that as it waxed, it pieced itself back together. It still gave him the creeps, but he couldn't really dwell on that as he had more pressing matters. He saw the forest beginning to clear, and stumbled upon a road. From the looks of it, it was relatively well used, which sparked some hope. He began to walk down the dirt path, seeing that it was mostly a straight way, and had gentle curves, likely to compensate for large carriages that couldn't make sharp turns. As the time passed, he swore he heard something down the way. He couldn't make it out, but it wasn't a sound any animal he knew would make. Quickening his pace, he ran towards what he assumed to be the first signs of life. As the noises became gradually louder, he saw a white wall surrounding what he assumed to be a small town. Finally seeing his destination, he felt the fatigue set in. It seems that his body was running on fumes, but he pushed on ahead. As he approached the gates, he was stopped by two guards wielding pikes. He was familiar with how his home village would stop new comers, so he did his best to cooperate.

"Where are you heading to, boy?" asked one of the men. Naruto could hear the disdain in his voice, but ignored it. He's been starving for half a month, he could deal with some jerk's poor attitude.

"I don't know, I got lost," he replied. "I'm just looking for somewhere to eat and gather supplies."

"Likely story," the man scoffed. "There's no way you've just been wandering around the forest. These parts are infested with the creature of Grimm, so I'll ask again, where are you heading?"

"Just let the kid through," the other guard sighed. "Faunus or not, this kid is starving."

"I don't mean any trouble," the blond butted, in attempt to diffuse the argument before it started. "I don't plan on staying long, I just want to get some supplies."

"Go on ahead," the second guard said, giving the signal to open the gates. The other guard shot him a dirty look, but didn't find it worth his time to follow around the boy.

"Thank you," he said with a small bow. He walked through gates, and found the town to be rather small. It seems that most businesses housed the people who ran them, in effort to save room. He wandered around for a while, before the scent of, well, _something_ that smelled appetizing caught his nose. Following his nose, he found what appeared to be a small diner of some sort, perhaps even an inn, if the size of the building was anything to by. Heading through the doors, he was greeted by men and women all eating and drinking loudly, all laughing. It seems that they were a rather close knit community, and hoped that his presence wouldn't be noticed. Fate was a cold mistress.

"Who are you?" asked what appeared to be a waitress. She wasn't exactly rude about it, but something about her tone gave the teen the impression he shouldn't be here.

"I'm just passing through," he replied, not wanting to give his name. "I just want some food, I haven't eaten in weeks."

"You poor thing," the woman said under her breath. "Listen, since you're not from around here, these people don't take kindly to Faunus waltzing in here. If you go out back, I'll bring you something, alright?" she asked, as she shooed him away. He walked out and waited behind the building. He clutched his stomach as it rumbled again, and sighed. A few minutes passed, and the same woman came out the back door carrying a tray. Naruto noticed that she had taken off her bandanna and let her short brown hair fall. She had purple eyes, and they seemed to be fill with concern.

"It isn't much, but it's what I could get," she offered, handing him the food. It was just a simple sandwich and roasted potatoes accompanied by a couple glasses of water. The teen grabbed the food and began to scarf it down greedily. It took him about as long as it took to finish his food to register how savage he must have looked just then, and he laughed nervously.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, wiping the crumbs off his face.

"Don't be," she smiled. "Most people in this town don't know what it feels like to be hungry. How much longer are you going to be around here?"

"I'm not sure," he answered. "One of the guards nearly didn't let me in, so I rather not overstay my welcome…"

"It's hard, isn't it?" asked the young woman. "Being a Faunus?"

"I don't know what that is," he shrugged. "but from what little experience I've gone through, I can only imagine."

"You're not a Faunus? But you have whiskers," she said, pulling his cheeks. "Oh, are they drawn on?"

"What, no!" he replied indignantly, pulling his face away. "They're birthmarks! What does whiskers have to do with Faunus?"

"You really don't know what they are?" she asked incredulously. Has this boy been living under a rock?

"No, I don't," he answered. "Do you know where I could find a place to spend the night? I'm guessing that if that tavern won't serve me food, they'd be less likely to spare a room."

"There aren't a lot of people who care for the Faunus, and even if you aren't one, they'll just lump you in with them anyway for the whiskers alone." The waitress has a pensive look on her face.

"I'm willing to work," he replied. "I don't have any money, so if I have to do some odd jobs or anything, I'll do them."

"You wouldn't know how to fix a leaking roof, would you?" she asked jokingly.

"Yea, I've done that before," he nodded. For once, it appears that his D-ranked mission came in handy.

"Really?" she asked. "Our town only has one handyman, and he's always drunk. Well, if you can fix my roof before it rains tomorrow, you're welcomed to stay in my guest room."

"I'll get it done right away!" he said eagerly. "Which house is yours? Where can I get some supplies?"

"I'll show you once I'm off the clock," she giggled. "I have the supplies in my shed. Look, I got to get back to work, my break is almost over. I'll see you around, ok? I'm Viola by the way."

"I'm Naruto," he replied with a grin, happy to see such a kind soul.

* * *

Few Days Later

* * *

Naruto was true to his word, and had fixed Viola's leaking roof, but the work didn't stop there. It turns out that Viola didn't exactly live in a nice house like the ones that were in plain view while entering the small town. It seemed that those who had money would have their nicer homes in front and center, as if to display to travelers of how well off they are. However, once you walked passed a few rows, the 'slums' as it would be fitting to call, began. They were mostly shacks, and Viola was one of the fortunate ones who had a steady job to afford the small house she had. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough to fix it or move into the 'inner' circle. Naruto had offered to help with whatever he could as long as he was there, mostly to thank her for her kindness, but he also needed something to do. He had spent the first two days wandering the town only to be turned away or be shot disgusted looks. Despite this, he had found a few people who were willing to help him out with supplies, in exchange for work. Naruto took what he could, and began doing everything from feeding their cattle, to shoveling what was left from said cattle. He didn't mind, and his work ethic ensured that everybody was happy. When he got what he needed, he decided to stay a bit longer, in hopes of helping out those who were kind to him, and actually began to make some wages, not much, but he was off better than not having a single Lien in his pocket when he got to the big city.

"Hey Naruto, my boy," said an older man. He was blacksmith, and had taken a liking to the boy. "Can you feed the forge? I'm working on my next masterpiece, and I don't want to lose my inspiration!"

"Sure thing, Gramps," replied the blond. He shoveled some coals and fanned the flames. When he had run out of things he knew how to do, he had taken to learning, and Roy, the blacksmith, had taken him as a temporary apprentice. The old man wasn't terribly busy, but he rarely had more than a few hours of down time.

"Thanks, Naruto," the man laughed heartily. He hammered away at some white-hot metal, smiling the entire time. Naruto knew the man was thinking about retiring soon, but he seemed to love his work too much. "I can't wait to be done with this one."

"What are you making?" asked Naruto.

"You'll see in time, my boy." Roy looked up and saw the sun setting. "It's getting late, shouldn't you be walking Viola home soon?"

"Oh, right, thanks Gramps. I'll be back tomorrow morning!" he assured. The man waved as he left, and looked back down to his work. He just needed a few more pieces left to smith before he could start to assemble it together.

Naruto ran down the streets of the small town and made it just in time to see Viola walking out of the tavern.

"Over here!" he called out to her. Blue eyes met violet, and the two walked side by side. "So how was work?"

"It was fine," she smiled. "Everybody was a bit more rowdy than usual, but that happens every Friday. What about you? How's being an apprentice for Roy?"

"It's alright," he shrugged. "He's been working on something the entire day, but wouldn't tell me what it was. Aside from that, it's not too hard. You know, it's actually kind of weird, most old people I know talk about when they were younger, but Gramps just hammers away at metal all day."

"Well, Roy was a Huntsman, and a soldier," she replied. "He doesn't talk about those days because he was in the Great War."

"The Great War? What's that?" Viola looked at him strangely.

"Even a wanderer should know about the Great War," she said unsure. "It was about sixty years ago. The war began over a bunch of different reasons, and in the end, it was Vale and Vacuo who fought against Mantle and Mistral. I don't want to bore you with a history lesson, but Roy was a teenage soldier and is one of the few still alive from that time."

"I would have never guessed," he thought to himself.

"I wouldn't have either. Apparently a few years ago this town was attacked, and it was Roy who single-handedly held off the Grimm until a wandering woman passed by with some incredible power that wiped them all out. I thought it was just some tall tale, but everybody swears it happened."

"Really?" he asked, a bit amazed. He hadn't seen a Grimm before, but they sounded scary. "So what's for dinner tonight?"

"I managed to get some roast," she said, gesturing to her bag. "It's not much, but I brought more potatoes… I'm sorry, I know you must be tired of them."

"What, no, they're great!" he insisted. They weren't his favorite food, but it kept the hunger away. After the first night, Naruto had sworn to himself that he would never complain about food again, or at least not aloud. "Is there anything else you can use around the house?"

"No, you don't have to do anymore," she said. She felt as if she was taking advantage of the poor boy who had nothing.

"Nonsense!" he replied. "I love helping, and you haven't charged me for staying, so it's the least I can do. I insist!"

"You're a great kid," she smiled. "If you must know, I think one of my windows doesn't close right. It lets in a draft, and it gets really cold at night. It's not too bad now, but during the winter, I might wake up like a popsicle!" she joked. The two arrived, and sat down at her dinner table, which didn't shake anymore from uneven legs, courtesy of Naruto. Viola set the food on the table as Naruto grabbed some plates and utensils.

"What do you want to drink?" asked Naruto.

"Water is fine," she smiled. "Actually, it's Friday, and I have tomorrow off…" She got up and grabbed a bottle of wine that she had brought with her when she moved. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen," answered Naruto. "Why?"

"Darn," she sighed, getting a strange look from Naruto. "It's just that my mother gave me this wine before I left home. She said that when I found a man worth keeping, to share a drink with him," she laughed. "Although I'm sure she had something else in mind when I left."

"What are you talking about?" asked Naruto, blushing a little.

"Calm down, Naruto, I'm not flirting with you, I'm ten years older than you!" she giggled. "You've been a huge help around here, and to some of the others too. Now, you might be too young for me, but I think you'll grow up to be a fine young man."

"R-really?" he asked, his flustered state gone. "Thanks."

"I should be thanking you," she said, putting the bottle back. "Well, since you can't drink wine, how about we share some juice? It's almost the same."

"Sure," Naruto laughed. Viola grabbed two wine glasses, and poured grape juice into them, so it looked like wine.

"A toast," she said lifting her glass. "To a better tomorrow!"

"To a better tomorrow!" Naruto clinked his glass with hers, and the two took a sip.

"Isn't this nice?" she asked, sighing in content. "I didn't realize how lonely I've been until you arrived." She had already told him a little about her past. Viola came from a small village further away from Vale. She had planned to going there to secure a better job and send money home, but what she had only got her about half way, which is why she remained here.

"Me neither," he replied, thinking back to his time in the forest. He couldn't remember much before that, but still knew that he wasn't from this world. It didn't help that he would occasionally hear a deep voice deep inside his head, but he chose to ignore it.

"Well if you're ever in the area, you're more than welcomed to stay here," she said, remembering that he hadn't planned on staying.

"Actually, I kind of like it here," he said slowly. Viola looked up with a small smile.

"Does that mean you're thinking of staying?" she asked, trying to mask her hopefulness. She didn't want her selfishness to keep the young boy from living his life.

"Well I don't have anywhere to go," he replied. "I know nothing about this place, and even though a lot of the villagers here give me a hard time, it stopped bothering me a long time ago. Now that I'm making a bit of money, I was thinking I could get a place here, if there's anywhere available."

"Unless you want to live in one of those shanty towns," she replied offhandedly. "Oh, you know what, I do know of one place that is a little better off than that, but you'll have a housemate."

"Really?" asked Naruto, a bit excited. "Who?" Viola couldn't help but giggle again at the boy's obliviousness.

"Me," she said, beaming. "You can live here! You're a great friend, and you're super helpful."

"Do you mean that?" he asked, a bit in shock. He felt as if he was being a burden to the young woman, but it seems that she didn't think that way at all. Viola nodded, and let out a small sound of surprise when Naruto hugged her. "Thank you!"

"No need for that," she said, rubbing his back affectionately. She didn't expect to feel her shirt getting wet. "A-are you crying?"

"N-no!" he denied, keeping his face buried in her shoulder. Viola smiled, and shushed him comfortingly.

"It's ok," she soothed. "You've had it hard, I can tell. You can let it out if you want, I'm here for you." It was all it took for the floodgates to open, and Naruto began to cry more than he'd ever had. She took to stroking his hair, but he kept mumbling into her shoulder. "It'll be alright," she assured. The two remained like that for a long time, before Naruto's cries finally died out, and let go of the woman.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking away as he wiped his face.

"It's alright, we all need to have a cry every once in a while," she assured him. "You've been bottling it up for a long time, haven't you?"

"I didn't know I was," he admitted. "It's just… I've never had somebody be so kind to me before… You knew nothing about me, and you fed me, gave me a place to sleep and found me some work… even when I felt like I was being a nuisance, you said I can stay with you…"

"Naruto…" she began, a bit concerned. "What have you gone through?"

"I'm just used to people having this hatred towards me everywhere I go," he admitted. "Ever since I could remember, adults would glare at me, pull their kids from becoming my friends, and try to hurt me… I've gotten used to that, so I didn't know how to react to how you're treating me now." Viola walked over to the shorter boy and gave him another hug.

"You poor soul," she said, holding back her own tears. "That's over now, alright? Nobody here is going to treat you like that anymore, or they'll have to go through me! You don't deserve any of that, especially with what a great person you still are."

"You don't have to do anything," he tried to insist. "I'll be fine."

"I can't do nothing, Naruto!" she said, looking the boy in the eyes. "You've gone through so much hatred you've become numb to it! Nobody should ever feel that way, and if those jerks in this village think it's ok to mistreat you, they got another thing coming! Look at me," she said, locking eyes with the boy. "Nobody is allowed to hurt you, ok? Never let anybody walk over you. There are good people in this world, and even if it's hard to find them sometimes, you have to keep looking."

"Th-thank you," he whispered. Viola nodded, and led him back to his seat.

"Now eat, a growing boy needs his nutrients," she said with a friendly authority. Naruto nodded happily, and ate, and unlike the first time he ate in front of her, savored his food. "You can fix the window tomorrow, alright? It's a warm night."

"Are you sure?" he asked, and the young woman nodded.

"I'm going to turn in early," she told him. "I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning, alright?"

"Right! Goodnight, Viola!" he said, feeling as if a thousand pound weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Viola closed the door behind her, and as soon as it did, sat against it. The truth was, the peek he gave her into his life had broken her heart. Even if she was wearing a strong mask now, it was physically painful to hold back tears right now. She grabbed a blanket from her bed, and began to cry into it. She didn't want Naruto to think she pitied him, but in all honestly, empathize wasn't strong enough of a word. Naruto had such a good heart, and to be tried and tested in such manners was cruel.

* * *

Several Weeks Later

* * *

"Morning, Gramps," greeted Naruto, walking to the blacksmith's shop. "What's on the to-do list for today?"

"Since we finished that huge influx of armor for our guards, I think today is going to be rather fun," grinned the old man. Naruto walked into the room, and saw Roy in front of a display case.

"What's in there?" he asked.

"It's a been my pet project," he replied, moving out of the way. Naruto was amazed at the weapon that was in the glass case. In the case was an elegant broad sword that looked to be made of some sort of volcanic glass, but Naruto knew better. Roy only worked with metal, but the shine on the black blade could not be compared to anything else. Down the center of the blade there was a nearly impossible to detect line that showed that the blade split down the middle for some purpose. The scabbard for the sword was displayed next to it. Both were primarily black, with gold trimmings.

"It's beautiful," complimented Naruto, stepping closer to see more details.

"I modeled it after the sword I gave to my son after I came back from the war," replied Roy, putting a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. "Listen boy, You've been asking me for stories about the Great War for nearly a week now, and I can recognize that look in anybody's eye. You're a warrior, aren't you?"

"Yea," replied Naruto, knowing that lying to the man was impossible.

"Then why hide it?" asked the man. "A warrior should be proud of his strength and use it to defend those who cannot defend themselves."

"Honestly, I didn't remember," answered the teen. "My memories were really fuzzy when I first got here, but I'm good now. I would join the guards, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me in anyway."

"You aren't wrong," sighed the man. "The young men of this generation learned hate from their fathers, and their fathers before them. They don't know how to look past one's differences and accept everybody as a person, instead of something stupid like an extra set of ears, or a tail."

"I don't want to fight anymore," continued Naruto. "I've lived through enough battles that I don't want to think of anymore, and I really like it here… Is it awful of me to want to live a peaceful life?"

"Not at all my boy," laughed Roy. "It's quite admirable, really. Most kids your age want to become Huntsman or Huntresses to live an idealized life filled with adventure and glory, only to throw their lives away when they realize that that's not what being a Huntsman is about."

"It's about the protection of the people," replied Naruto. "That much is obvious."

"Yet very few know that coming into this profession," sighed Roy, before smiling at the teen again. "I've never seen an outsider come here and make such a big impact in such little time. Sure, a lot of the 'wealthy' people are mad, but they don't make the laws."

"Who does?"

"Those who live in Vale. They might not be able to enforce their laws so far away from the main city, but they do regularly send out teams of Huntsman to patrol. In fact, they should be here any day now." Naruto nodded, and went back to the sword. He didn't think of his home anymore, as it only made him miss the few friends he had. But now, he had a better life, and although it wasn't as eventful, he had never felt happier. His surrogate mother/older sister figure made sure he had everything he needed, and he would ensure that she was happy. The only trouble came when a guard or two got drunk, and tried to fight Naruto when he'd walk Viola home.

"I've never been one to use a sword," admitted Naruto. "But that makes me wish I did."

"If you want it, it's yours," offered Roy. He had been hoping that his apprentice would want it, given that he would be the only one in that village who would have a fraction of an idea of how much work went into it. Naruto looked at the large man in shock.

"You're giving it to me?" he asked. "Wh-why?"

"You have a good heart, Naruto. Even if you don't want to fight, I know you'd do anything to defend your friends, especially Viola. These fools that guard the city just take the job for the easy paycheck, the only time there was a Grimm attack, half of them cowered in fear. None of them are fit to wield this weapon."

"What makes you think I am? I've never swung a sword before."

"You're still young, you can learn." Roy looked over to the shop and saw somebody waiting to be tended to. "We'll talk about this another time, we've got a customer." Naruto nodded, and grabbed his tools and prepped the forge.

As the day began to come to a close, Roy decided to close up early. He shut the door, and walked in to the back room, where Naruto had finished putting his tools back.

"You want to take it for a test drive?" asked Roy, with a smirk on his face. "There still about another hour of sunlight, so if you decide quickly, you can surprise your wife with some rabbits."

"Viola isn't my wife!" Naruto insisted.

"When you're as old as I am, a decade isn't much of a difference. Now come on, grab the sword."

"How are we going to hunt rabbits with a sword?" asked Naruto, although he listened to the retired Huntsman.

"It's not just a sword," smirked Roy. As Naruto handed him the weapon, Roy activated some mechanism that began to transform the blade. Originally, Naruto assumed the sword would split into two thinner blade, however, he did not expect it to open up with a thin wire connecting the tips and forming a long bow. The guard on the sword seemed to line up perfectly with the opened form of the weapon, making the bow form of the weapon no less elegant than the sword form.

"How, what even, that's awesome!" shouted Naruto, as Roy handed him the weapon. He reached behind the display case, and took out the sheath, although it was now apparent that Roy had hidden the matching quiver. He must have done so to see Naruto's reaction. Roy laughed heartily as the two walked out of the shop.

* * *

Several Hours Later

* * *

Naruto and Roy had taken a bit longer than they anticipated, given that Roy had severely overestimated Naruto's ability to shoot. Instead of hunting the fleeing rabbits for him, Roy insisted that he hunt at least three before they headed back. Failure after failure, Naruto had ended up breaking and arrow, and throwing the arrowhead at a rabbit with surprising accuracy. Roy assumed it was a fluke, but Naruto confessed to be skilled with throwing knives, rather than bows and arrows.

"I'm telling you, once you get the rhythm of thing, you'll be shooting like a champ!" insisted Roy. "If you can do that with some broken arrowheads, you'll become an excellent marksman. You just need some practice."

"I don't know, I want to learn, but I'm ok with what I can do."

"Nonsense! There is always room for improvement, and to be quite honest, nobody has ever killed a Grimm by chucking a knife at it. If you really want to protect those close to you, you're going to have to use some heavier weapons."

"Is that why you made that sword?"

"Exactly!" the man admitted with no shame. Naruto almost tripped.

"Seriously? You made that for me, so I _learn?"_

"That's not the only reason, my boy," he answered a bit solemnly. "I'm getting old, Naruto. These last few weeks, I've been feeling my strength leaving…. You have a kind heart, my boy, and tenacity. I can see it in your eyes. My time is coming soon, and I don't want to leave the village without somebody competent to protect them. When you told me you were staying I felt my prayers were answered, and I knew it had to be you. So, if you would be kind enough to grant this selfish old man his final wish, please take this sword and use it to protect."

"Gramps… I…" Naruto was speechless.

"You don't have to answer now," he assured, "I've had weeks to think about this, you deserve the same courtesy. Even if you decline, I won't hold it against you."

* * *

Later that Night

* * *

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked Viola. "You seem troubled."

"It' nothing," he tried to wave off, but she was unconvinced. He hadn't even touched the rabbit he brought, which was a rare treat for either of them.

"If it was nothing, you'd be asking about my day," she tried to joke. "Or at least tell me about yours."

"I'm sorry," he sighed, "I just don't know what to do."

"Well, maybe I can help you," she offered. "What's bothering you?"

"I'm not sure where to begin," he answered honestly.

"Why don't you start off with what happened today? You weren't this upset this morning."

"Gramps made this sword, it's a piece of art, and he wants me to own it… but I've never swung a sword in my life…"

"I'm sure he'd understand if you told him that."

"You don't understand, it's not that I don't like fighting, in fact, it's one of the few things I'm good at. I've just never really had a weapon before."

"You like fighting?" she asked incredulously. "I've only ever seen you do odd jobs and water plants. I would never suspect you were training to be a Huntsman."

"I'm not…" Viola furrowed her brows in confusion. "Look, when I found this village, it's not because I had somewhere to go… I just woke up in the forest. I had no idea where I was, and I spent weeks trying to find civilization."

"You spent weeks outside the walls wandering around?" she gasped. "But the nearest village is only a week away!"

"I didn't come from another village," he stressed. He didn't want to outright say it, but it was becoming harder to conceal the truth. "Viola… if I told you something insane, would you believe me?"

"How insane?"

"I'm not sure I believe it myself," he admitted. "If it wasn't for certain things, I'd think I was crazy…" Viola felt her heart hurt at the boy's fear. It seems that despite the night she thought he poured his heart out to her, he still had a few secrets.

"Naruto, you've been nothing but good to me, anything you say, I'll try my best to understand. I want to believe you, because I don't see how a kind boy like you could make up something so outrageous."

"I… I used to be a mercenary for hire," he said after a long pause. It wasn't exactly a lie but he felt dimension hopping ninjas was something he couldn't explain. "I had a team who would go out on missions to protect clients from assassins and things of that nature. I'm not some kid who's done odd jobs his entire life, I'm trained to kill… and Roy figured it out."

"Y-you're a hitman?" she asked fearfully. Naruto physically flinched at her tone, which Viola immediately regretted.

"I've never actually killed anybody myself, but I have seen it," he hastily tried to explain, hoping he didn't just ruin the first meaningful relationship he formed in Remnant. "I was trained since I was a kid, and somehow I found myself in the forest around here and I just wandered trying to find food. I wanted to leave that life behind after… _this._ I've never had somebody in my life like you…"

"Oh, Naruto…" whispered Viola. Even after all he said, all she saw was a boy who grew up in a broken home. The other night wasn't a ruse to get close to her, it was genuinely the first time he's had somebody care for him. Her instincts to comfort the boy completely overpowered the brief doubt she had. "I don't know what you have or haven't done in your past, but I don't care. I'll be honest, you frightened me a little bit when you started saying those things, but you're my friend now, Naruto. I feel ridiculous, because even if you did see these sort of things, Huntsman are celebrated and they've done similar things."

"You're willing to compare me to people like Roy?" asked Naruto, wide-eyed.

"It must have been the reason he offered that sword to you, right?" she asked. "He is a good man, and I'm sure he sees something in you that you might not. I won't tell you what to do, but I'll support you whichever path you take." Naruto smiled in disbelief. The feeling of joy she just made him feel was all he needed to make his decision.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

"Good morning, my boy!" greeted Roy with a hearty laugh. He saw the look of determination on the blond's face and knew he had come to a decision. "So, what have you decided?"

"I'll be honored to accept this sword," he replied. Roy raised an eyebrow.

"So, what convinced you?"

"When you gave me the option, I was overwhelmed… but I now realize that there is only one thing I want more than living a peaceful life."

"Oh?" laughed Roy, "and what would that be?"

"The ability to protect that life," he replied with determination. Roy smiled at the young teen, and handed him the sword.

"I'm glad your reasons are so noble," the man said fondly. "You'll grow up to be a fine young man. Now, come. I'll show you the basics. We're closed for today." Naruto smiled, and followed the old warrior to the large opening out back. There, he had two wooden swords and handed one to Naruto. "Now, try to hit me."

* * *

One Year After Arrival

* * *

Naruto fell to the ground, as his wooden sword flew out of his hand. The sun was setting, and Roy laughed as he helped the boy up.

"You've improved immensely," the ancient man boomed. Naruto smiled at him, as he wiped the dirt off his face.

"I still haven't been able to hit you," he shrugged.

"My boy, none of the guards here can hit me, and they've been trained for decades. You've gotten closer than any of them, so don't feel too bad. How's your archery?" Naruto walked over to shop and came out with a practice bow. Roy reached into his pocket and tossed eight pebbles in the air, which Naruto was able to shoot out of the sky before they began to fall back down. "You are a fine student."

"I wouldn't be anything without my mentor," bowed Naruto. The two of them have grown close over the last year, much to the anger of the villagers. Roy had gotten older, and due to the strain of sparring with Naruto three times a day, he often fell behind on his orders. Unfortunately for them, nobody was willing to complain to the man, knowing he didn't take kindly to those who had mistreated Naruto in the past.

"Well, I have nothing left to teach you, all you need now is actual battlefield experience, which I hope you'll never have to go through."

"Come on, Gramps, I've dealt with life and death fights since I was twelve," he reminded. At some point during their training, Roy grew concerned that Naruto never awaked his Aura, so the boy had to come clean. To say the old soldier was surprised would be an understatement. Naruto had nearly given the poor old man a heart attack; especially when he demonstrated his techniques out in the forest.

"From what you've told me about those times, you had a team to fall back on… out here you're alone. It is easy to become overrun by the sheer numbers of Grimm, never forget that."

"I know," he sighed. "Well, I got to get going, Gramps, Viola said she wanted me home early today." Roy grinned as he waved off the blond student. Once he was out of sight, he let out a series of coughs he had been trying to will away. Looking at his hands, they were covered in blood. Wiping it on his apron, he ignored it and walked back into his shop. Apparently there were a handful of angry customers, to which he sighed. It seems that no matter how much good he tried to do, the old man was destined to make some people angry.

* * *

Naruto knew that Viola had taken the day off of work, which was surprising to him, since he couldn't remember the last time she did. As he approached their home, which looked leagues better than then when he fixed the roof, he couldn't help but smile. Before he made it to the door, Viola came rushing out, and tackled him to the ground.

"You're home!" she said happily. "Come on in, I have something to show you!" Naruto laughed as the woman led him in, and a delicious scent assaulted his nose. It smelled sweet.

"What is all this?" he asked, seeing a small round cake on the dinner table.

"Today will mark a year that we've been living together!" she smiled, hugging him from behind. The two had become nearly inseparable. "I know it's not much, but I couldn't think of anything else to do aside from this."

"I love it!" he grinned. Viola smiled, and brought out the two wine glasses they only used on special occasions.

"Does today feel like a grape juice kind of day?" she asked with a wide grin.

"Definitely," he smiled. She poured two glasses, and they sipped on it, savoring the sweet taste.

"When you're of age, we're going to drink that entire bottle," she laughed, pointing to her mother's wine. "I can't wait until then."

"Me neither," he agreed. He looked at his cake, and smiled wider. "So what flavor is it?"

"It's a secret!" she sang. "I'm sure if you smell it, you'll figure it out." Naruto took a sniff, but all he smelled was the frosting.

"I just got vanilla," he replied.

"Nope, try harder!" He got closer and began to take a deep whiff, before he felt her smash his face into the cake. "Surprise! It's chocolate!" Naruto lifted his head, frosting covering it entirely, but he couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, I can't believe you'd let cake go to waste like that," he chided playfully. It was normally her reprimanding him.

"I didn't," she laughed, as she scooped some frosting off his face and licked it. "See, it's still good."

"Then have some!" he declared, grabbing the cake off the table and splattering it on her face.

"How could you!" she asked, unable to hold her laugh. "I spent all day making this, and you just, just-"

"Nuh uh," he said, repeating her actions, and eating some bits off her face. "Still good see?" The two just shared a laugh as they cleaned their faces off. "I can't believe you wanted me home early to shove my face in some cake."

"That's not the only reason," she teased lightheartedly. She took out a small box and handed it to him. "I had Roy make it while you were doing your drills," she admitted. "I hope you like it." Naruto uncovered the box, and uncovered a small pendant that had the leaf shape symbol that his forehead protector bore. "I put a picture of us in it, so you can look at it while I'm at work, since I know you miss me," she teased. Naruto couldn't contain himself, and hugged the girl and spun her around.

"You're the greatest ever!" he said happily. "It's going to be so hard to top this." Normally Viola would tell him it was fine, that the gift wasn't a big deal, but over the time they have gotten to know each other, gifts had become something of a competition. It started off when Viola had asked when his birthday was, and gotten him a new headband for his forehead protector. Naruto responded by saving up his wages to paint their home a soft blue color that he knew was her favorite. To say she was blown away was an understatement, so over time, they stepped their gift-giving games up.

"Good luck," she laughed. "I spent weeks thinking of what to get you! In fact, I had to ask Roy and Opal for their opinions." Naruto opened his mouth to talk, but there the ground began to shake violently. Instinctively, Naruto dived toward Viola, and held her steady.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and the girl nodded, a bit dazed. "Lock the doors and get under something."

"Where are you going?" she asked, confused by his orders.

"I have a bad feeling… I'm going to check it out." He saw the look on her face, and softened his expression. "I'll be back in a bit, alright? Don't worry, it's probably nothing." She nodded, knowing that he wouldn't change his mind. The boy was nice, but stubborn as hell.

Naruto walked towards the center of the town as several more quakes shook him, but he noticed they came at regular patterns. Almost like footsteps. Falling into a sprint, he headed towards Roy's to see him outside his shop in his heavy armor and two-handed great-sword.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto, confused. It seems that everybody had rushed inside their homes, and only Roy, Naruto and half a dozen guards awaited what was to come.

"Grimm," said Roy seriously. "Big ones."

"Ursa big, or deathstalker big?" asked Naruto, drawing his sword.

"Bigger." Naruto's stomach dropped. "Goliaths." As if on cue, gate was crushed by a massive elephant-like Grimm, who trumpeted loudly, as many smaller Grimm poured through the hole. The guards were frozen in fear, but Roy sprang into action, with Naruto on his tail. With a mighty swing, Roy took out a row of Boarbatusk. Naruto followed suit, and with his smaller sword, began to pick off some of the slower Grimm like Ursai and Creeps. After a few moments, the guards joined in on the fray, attempting to take on the Beowolves.

"NO YOU FOOLS!" shouted Roy, as two of them got too close to the Goliath. With a swing flick of its nose, it sent them over the wall, where their dying screams could be heard.

"Damnit," cursed Naruto, as he blocked a bite from an Ursa, and kicked away Creep. Roy had taken him hunting Grimm a handful of times, significantly far away from the village to ensure it wasn't endangered, but they have never run into a Goliath before. "How do we take down the big one?" he asked Roy.

"We get lucky," he answered solemnly. He ran into the thick of the battle with a battle-cry, and began to mow down the lesser Grimm, as he got closer to the Goliath. Naruto quickly followed, watching his blind spots and even blocking a few strikes from the Beowolves, who out sped the old man. His glory days were long over, and his body could no longer keep up with his spirit, but he refused to back down. Trying to summon as much Aura out, Roy began to glow white, and roared. "Naruto, when you see the opportunity, strike." With no further instructions, the glowing man ran forward and began to disintegrate the Grimm that got too close. Once within range of the Goliath, he slashed at its feet, bringing the beast down to its knees. Naruto immediately ran through the now clear path, and ran up the trunk of the Grimm, and stabbed it in the eye, before jumping as high as he could, and thrust his sword into the skull of the Goliath. Slowly but surely, the Goliath stopped moving.

"The big one's down!" he shouted to the remaining combatants. To his horror, a second trumpet sounded, then a third. "Oh no…" he whispered. From where the first Goliath had come from, no less than twenty were headed straight for them. "Roy! There's more! ROY!" He looked down, and saw the man was no longer glowing, and had chunks of flesh missing from where his armor had begun to fall apart.

"I'm not going to make it," grunted the man with a wistful smile. "Naruto, you have much to live for, remember why you wield that weapon!" The old man stood straight, and smiled, despite all the blood he was losing. "COME GET ME YOU MINDLESS MONSTERS! CAN'T BEAT AN OLD MAN WHO ALREADY HAS A FOOT IN THE GRAVE?!" he boomed, getting the attention from the Grimm who had ran into the village. Most of them had turned back and charged at the dying man. "I refuse to die of old age," he muttered under his breath, lifting his sword once more, and shouting at the beasts once more. "AN ARC NEVER GOES DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT! NOW GRANT ME A WARRIOR'S DEATH!"

* * *

Naruto ran into the village, not looking back. He knew exactly what Roy was doing, and it hurt to leave him to die. As much as he wished to help everybody, he had to ensure that Viola was alright first. Was it selfish of him? Yes. Did he give a damn? Not at the moment. Weaving through the streets, he channeled as much chakra into his legs as he could, determined to find her.

He was too late.

When the house was within sight, the doors had been smashed through, and the windows were shattered. Dread filling him, he walked in, his voice wavering as he called out for his friend.

"Viola?" Trembling, he made his way through the now ravaged home. Her bedroom door was ajar, and he could smell a strong metallic scent coming from it. Steeling his nerves, he pushed the door open, and felt his heart shatter. She had been tore apart in the most literal sense. He saw her arm dangling by her window sill, and her lower body was lying somewhere off to the side. Naruto wanted to turn tail and leave, but his body walked in further on its own. Walking over to her bed, the other side revealed the rest of her mangled body, her face still frozen in a horrified expression. "I… I'm sorry," he whispered, closing her eyes. A pointless gesture, but he couldn't bear to look at her dull eyes. Somehow, that haunted him the most. Naruto walked out of the bedroom, and was greeted by a pack of Beowolves slowly walking through the doorway into his home. That last thing he remembered was three of them howling as they prepared to pounce on him.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Alright, where to begin.**

 **So, if anybody missed it, Naruto arrived in Remnant twenty years before the events of RWBY Volume One: Chapter One. Obviously, he won't meet a lot of the characters we know and love because Naruto will not be attending Beacon.**

 **BTW, Roy was eighty-seven, and he fought in the Great War when he was seventeen until it ended, ten years later.**

 **I didn't want to write a prologue chapter, so I used some time skips and rushed some relationships, but this won't happen in the main part of the story. This chapter served several purposes, which include introducing Naruto to Remnant, setting up the premise, and a few other things you'll have to read on to find out. I'm not sure whether I'm going to make this a giant length story, or go on with my original plan, and break it into a trilogy, so let me know what you guys think would be better, and why so I can consider it.**

 **Concerning my update schedule. As some of my readers may know, Team Monochrome is updated about once a week, although I did mess up and ended up updated a few days late last week. This will not be the case for this story. The Fox Who Tried will be updated, and this is a rough estimate, as the holidays are coming to an end, about once a month. There will not be a set date, so you might receive two updates within the span of a week, or you'd might have to wait up to seven weeks. Again, I'm going to see how things work out, and let you all know accordingly, but for now, that's the plan. Thank you for checking out this new project of mine, and I hope it is something you haven't read before.**

 **~LVR6**


	2. Team STRQ

Naruto found himself wandering down the lonesome road once again. Unlike his arrival a year ago, he did not bother concealing his presence, and walked down the barren path to the next town. He didn't remember what happened after the final moments he spent in that wretched house of horrors, but he had new tears in his clothes, and a small bag. Naruto was a pitiful sight; the boy's face was caked with dry blood, and his expression, haunted. If he were a shade paler, he'd look like a walking corpse. His footsteps were heavy, yet he felt empty inside. Days had passed, although to Naruto, all sense of time had been lost. How could he possibly measure the length of a never-ending nightmare? Before he knew it, he was stopped at another village gate.

"Hey, you ok kid?" asked a gruff voice. Naruto didn't bother looking up, but made a noncommittal gesture. "Um, ok… Let the kid in…" he called out. The gates screeched open; a clear indication that the town did not get many visitors.

The teen wandered into the village, but didn't bother taking in the sights. He was supposed to see them with Viola, how could he stand to look at them? Aimlessly, he continued to wander.

* * *

Elsewhere

* * *

"Are you sure we're headed the right way?" asked a young woman with confusion in her silver eyes.

"I'm sure, Summer," replied the taller male who was leading the way. "Raven and I have travelled here plenty of times."

"But I don't even see the road anymore," Summer pouted. "Why do you two insist on going through the forest? The roads are much safer!"

"It's faster this way," explained Raven. "Besides, there's nothing in these woods that we can't handle anyway."

"Spoken like a true Huntress!" the fourth and final member of the group chimed in. "Besides, nothing gets the blood pumping like fighting some soulless creatures, amirite Qrow?"

"Your sense of fun has always been a mystery to me, Tai," Qrow mumbled. He pushed a branch out of the way, as the forest came to an end. "See? We're here. This way saved us at least a week."

"Wow, you were right!" Summer said excitedly. She ran out to look at the small town, when something landed on her shoulder. "What was that?"

"I… I think a bird just pooped on you…" said Taiyang, holding back a laugh.

"EW GROSS!" she shouted, as she ran in circles in disgust. "Get it off, get it off, get if off!"

"You can get cleaned up in town," Raven sighed, rolling her eyes. "Aren't we on a mission?"

"Oh, right," Summer laughed nervously. "Alright, we're supposed to be patrolling the areas to see if there has been any strange Grimm activity going on. Professor Ozpin has a strange feeling about these parts."

"Why is that?" asked Tai, as he shifted his gaze away from Raven.

"He lost contact with one of his old friends," replied Qrow, a bit solemnly. "The two kept consistent contact with each other, but they stopped suddenly."

"Is that why he wanted us to check on the communication towers?"

"Yes, Tai," Raven replied condescendingly. "Don't you listen during the mission briefings?" Taiyang winced a little, but bounced back.

"Well, that tower is as good as fixed," he grinned, ignoring her latter comment, "and any Grimm around there is as good as dead."

"We should probably ask the villagers first," suggested Summer. "They can tell us if there's been anything strange going on. We can take it from there."

"When did Ozpin lose contact with his friend?" asked Tai, looked over to Qrow.

"Supposedly it's been almost two weeks since he's heard from him," Qrow replied, sighing at the end. The group shared a moment of silence, knowing the most probable reason.

"Well, let's hope it's just the tower," Summer said, trying to cheer her team up. "Come on, let's go find a place to sleep before we start pestering people." The three nodded, and followed her into the village. When they stepped in, nothing seemed out of place, in fact, it looked rather peaceful.

"Hey Summer, we're here about a week early, why don't we start first thing in the morning?" asked Tai, looking away. Summer was about to ask why, but she read his body language and assumed he was tired… or hungry… Summer was never good at reading social cues.

"Oh, of course," she said with a smile. "We can use what's left of today to get some rest, it's been a while since we've slept in a bed."

"Great," said Tai, as he turned to Qrow. "Want to grab a beer?"

"You know I don't drink," he replied.

"I'll buy you some hot wings or something," urged Tai, as he grabbed his arm and began to drag him. "Come on, we're going."

"What the? Tai, let go of me! I don't want to go!" he argued. Tai ignored him, and took him away. The blond did always have a strong grip.

"That was weird," said Summer idly. "Well, it's just you and me, Raven."

"I don't need any 'rest' for today," she replied. "I'm going to go ask around if there's been anything strange. I'll let you know what I find."

"Oh, um, alright," sighed Summer. Raven hadn't even waited for her to respond before she left. Summer was used to her team's behavior at this point, but being left alone was new. Usually it was she and Qrow who would go everywhere together, as they were partners, but Tai had literally refused to take 'no' for an answer. She shrugged it off, and looked for the inn.

* * *

With Tai and Qrow

* * *

"Why did you bring me here?" asked Qrow, as he took a drink of water. "Of all places, you brought me to a bar?"

"I know you don't like drinking," sighed Tai, as he downed half of his drink. "It's just, I'm not sure how to say this, without some good old liquid courage."

"Say what?" he asked leaning back a little. Taiyang was acting very out of character.

"I think I like you sister," he blurted out. Qrow raised an eyebrow, but Tai took it the wrong way. "Don't get me wrong, it's not because I want to _do things_ to her, she just-"

"Dude!" Qrow said spitting out his water, before erupting in a coughing fit. "Don't put that image in my head!"

"I said it _wasn't_ like that!"

"You still didn't have to phrase it like that," he insisted, shaking his head. He composed himself once more, and let out an audible groan. "I'm going to regret asking, but what _is_ it like?"

"I don't know, I know she's always been kind of… well, difficult to get along with," he began, running his hand through his hair, "but there's _something_ about her… lately she's been all I think about…"

"Tai… I'm telling you this as a friend, and her brother…" began Qrow. "Raven is a lot of good things… but I don't think it would work out between you two."

"Why?" asked Tai, staring at Qrow. "Is she into girls or something?"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Qrow replied annoyed.

"Then why wouldn't it work out?" he asked. "I know I'm a bit more outgoing than her, but I think we can figure it out."

"I'm not saying you're a bad guy," explained Qrow. "You two just wouldn't work out. I love my sister, but I'm not blind to her flaws."

"Psht," Tai scoffed. "Imperfections are what make people perfect for each other." Qrow let out a tired sigh, and got off his stool. "Where are you going?"

"To bed, do what you want," he answered, not turning. Tai shrugged it off, and ordered another beer. Qrow hadn't exactly given him his blessing, but he also gave him permission. Unsure of what he meant, he sat there and began to think.

* * *

Summer had booked the rooms, but still felt it would be a waste to go to bed so early. If the sun was out, she was out. She wished that Qrow could show her around, as he did mention coming to this village before, but decided to look around herself. Summer didn't find it difficult to find where the communications tower was, but decided to wait for her team to check it out tomorrow. She stopped walking, and began to think about the possible explanations there could be for why Ozpin's friend had stopped communication him, but most were not good.

"I hope he's ok," she said to herself aloud. A moment later, she felt somebody bump into her.

"Sorry…" said a young voice. She turned to assure it was alright, but froze a bit at the sight that befell her. It was a blond teen with sunken cheeks and black rings around his eyes. There was little doubt in her mind that the boy was sleep-deprived, but the most concerning thing was his state of dress. His clothes were shredded, and appeared to be primarily red, but the rare spot of orange revealed the true color of his jumpsuit. The ragged cloak on top of it all did little to hide that fact.

"I-it's alright," she managed to say. The boy didn't respond, and simply continued to walk aimlessly, occasionally mumbling under his breath. She made to follow him, but heard her teammate call out to her.

"Rose," called Raven. "I think you'll want to hear this."

"What is it?" she asked, although her mind was still on the boy. It looked like he had been mauled by an Ursa.

"I checked my scroll and the signal is fine, but the merchants said they lost contact to neighboring village about a week away. They told me that there have only been about three people who've arrived in the last month. We can start asking them before we depart, although chances are, the village is long gone." Summer wordlessly nodded. Raven was usually always 'business first' when they were on the field, and she didn't sugar coat anything.

"I see…" she sighed. "Let's just get some rest before I hear any more bad news…" She felt Raven put a hand on her shoulder.

"Summer, we got here as fast as possible, there was nothing anybody could have done," she stated factually. "I know you want to save everybody, but you can't be everywhere at once. After our time at Beacon, I thought you'd have learned that already."

"I know, it's just…" she began, before she realized who she was talking to. "It's nothing. Can you tell Tai and Qrow where the inn is? I'm going to turn in early."

"Of course," she nodded. Summer went on her way, downcast about the entire situation.

"What happen to Summer?" asked Qrow, walking from behind Raven. Her defeated demeanor was not a good sign.

"She's finally getting to see what the real world is like," she shrugged indifferently. "Honestly, it's about time."

"She's our leader," sighed Qrow. "You know we didn't exactly have the most common upbringing, and not everybody is the son or daughter of a band of killers. Summer, and Tai for that matter, were born lucky… we were lucky to be born."

"Funny you'd be the one to talk about being 'lucky', Qrow," she said with a sly smile.

"Hilarious," he mocked with a glare. "What's the matter with you? Ever since graduation, you'd stopped trying-"

"I won't conform to weakness anymore," she bit back. "Our time in Beacon has shown us that Huntsman academies only prepare the next generation to fight Grimm. They don't know what it's like to fight for their lives every day," her voice rose a bit, but she caught herself. "Summer and Tai might be exceptional at fighting mindless creatures, but 'combat class', doesn't prepare them for an opponent who is willing to play dirty."

"We aren't pillaging these towns anymore," reminded Qrow in a whisper, "we're supposed to protect them." Raven bit her tongue and walked off. Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose, and walked into town. "We're supposed to be helping people, Raven… why is that so hard for you to understand?" he asked, knowing she couldn't hear.

"Maybe because it's pointless," said an empty voice. Qrow turned and saw a teen gazing at him apathetically.

"That's why we train, kid," he replied. "We call ourselves 'Huntsman' because the creatures of Grimm are nothing but prey." Qrow almost winced at that fact he was starting to sound like Peter Port.

"It's easy to become overrun by the sheer numbers of Grimm," he repeated. "A real Huntsman told me that." Qrow looked at Naruto, and raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds like something Oz would say," he mused to himself. "Hey, kid, where are you from?"

"Not around here," he replied. His voice was a hoarse whisper from how little he's used it. Qrow gave him a sympathetic look, although Naruto didn't acknowledge it.

"I'll see you around, kid, I got to get some rest," he said regrettably. The boy didn't need any more misfortune right now.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

"Well, that's two down," sighed Tai, as the team made their way through town. They had interviewed two of the three people Raven had gotten the names or descriptions of, and so far, they've gotten nothing useful. "One guy was a merchant, and the other was the town drunk."

"You'd think they'd recognize the drunk," sighed Qrow, a bit disgusted. They found him passed out in an alley spooning a garbage can.

"Alright Raven, what's our third guy look like?" asked Tai.

"Blond teenager about this tall and has seen better days," she recited. "That shouldn't be too difficult to find. Apparently all he's done is wander since he arrived."

"Sounds like another loon," sighed Tai, but Summer and Qrow unknowingly felt the same sensation of realization.

"The lady selling produce says he spends a lot of time mumbling to himself around the well, but that's all I got. He hasn't been here long," finished Raven. The four began to walk through town on the lookout for the teen, but Qrow noticed the pensive look on Summer's face.

"What's wrong?" he whispered to her.

"It's nothing," she replied lowly. "I'm just worried."

"About the mission?"

"Well, yea, but…" she sighed. "I think I saw the boy we're looking for last night."

"Me too," he admitted. Qrow looked ahead, noticed Tai struggling to talk to Raven, and winced. It appears that Tai had made his decision.

"Really? Did you say anything to him?" she asked with concern. "I was going to, but he left before I got a word in."

"Not exactly. I was talking to myself, and he sort of chimed in," replied Qrow. "Cynical kid." The two continued in silence, as they resumed their search.

* * *

Naruto was a strange sight; he sat against a building in an alley arguing with somebody that wasn't there. He wasn't loud, but if one were to take the time to look in, they'd see that he seems to have lost his mind. He punched the ground in frustration and began to pull at his hair.

"Shut up!" he hissed. "I don't want to deal with you right now!"

" **I couldn't care less what you want! Get some goddamn food, you starving idiot! I won't use my chakra to keep you going while you wallow in self-pity!"**

"Then stop! I'm not asking you to save me!" he growled. "You don't give a damn about me, you've only ever cared about yourself!"

" **I can't die, brat. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have killed those Grimm when you found your precious Viola ripped open like a morbid Christmas present!"**

"Don't talk about her like that…" he uttered, anger swelling up.

" **Like you could do anything in this state! You're pathetic, and this attitude won't get you anywhere! One bitch showed you a bit of kindness and you're ready to throw away your future to make her happy?"**

"What future?!" he roared. He was unaware that he had begun to pace back and forth. "I had nothing, and I knew nothing!"

" **I've heard that before, haven't you? 'Oh, why don't the villagers like me? Why doesn't the Hokage spend more time with me? Boo-hoo, kids don't play with me!' This isn't the first time you've started with nothing!"**

"It's the only time I've lost everything!" he snapped. "What would you know about that? There isn't a thing you don't hate! If you had an ounce of humanity, you'd understand!" Naruto was shaking in anger. The fox was the demon, not him. Trying to reason with him was like talking to a wall. When he didn't get a response, he began to inspect his surroundings. At the end of the alley were four people looking at him strangely. Drawing a kunai, Naruto, shouted at them. "What are you looking at?!"

"Is this the kid we're looking for?" Taiyang asked Raven.

"It would appear so," she nodded, drawing her sword as she approached the boy. "I suggest you put that knife down kid, or I'll cut you down."

"I'd like to see you try," he hissed, as he formed a cross with his fingers. The alley filled with smoke, and there were several blonds looking at the group of Huntsman.

"His Semblance is cloning?" asked Qrow, mildly surprised. He had seen stranger Semblances before, but to have mastered it to this degree at such a young age was impressive. The horde of Naruto's rushed Raven, who quickly sliced through the first wave.

"Your technique is sloppy," she commented. "You don't have any formal training do you?"

"Are you always this arrogant?" asked Naruto, as he appeared behind her. Raven's eyes widened, as he had gotten in her blind spot at one point, and held a strange blue orb in his palm. However, before he could slam the technique into her back, Naruto was knocked away by a roundhouse kick, courtesy of Tai.

"Watch yourself kid," he warned seriously. "We won't take it easy if you keep this up."

"Just stop!" shouted Summer, having seen enough. "Raven, Tai, go back to the inn. Qrow and I will handle this."

"But Summer," began Tai, as he tried to defend his actions.

"That's an order!" she said firmly, as she gave him an angry glare. Tai looked at her with disbelief, but obeyed. Raven followed closely behind, smirking at the boy before she left.

"What do you want?" asked Naruto, his guard still up.

"Relax kid, we're not here to fight," began Qrow, seeing that Summer was still trying to compose herself. "We just want to ask a few questions."

"Why ask me? I told you I wasn't from around here."

"That's precisely why," he replied evenly.

"Are you hungry?" asked Summer suddenly. Naruto and Qrow gave her a strange look. "You can get yourself cleaned up and have a warm meal for you time."

"Are other two going to be there?"

"No, I'll be sure to keep them away," replied Qrow. "Raven has always been a bit quick on the draw." Naruto put his kunai away, and hesitantly followed the two, ready to flee at a moment's notice.

* * *

After a couple of hours, Naruto was cleaned up and fed, although he still held a scowl on his face and a cold look in his eye. He sat across Summer and Qrow who had been discussing something before his arrival. They both noticed the whisker marks that were obscured by the dry blood earlier, but said nothing.

"I'm Summer Rose," the silver-eyed woman introduced. "I'm the leader of team STRQ."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" asked Naruto, colder than he intended.

"Um, no… I was just introducing myself," she replied quietly. His attitude didn't hurt her, but it made her sad to see such a young boy be so pessimistic.

"You got a name kid?" asked Qrow. He didn't like how he spoke to his partner, but kept his tone neutral.

"Naruto," he answered simply.

"Summer, let's not beat around the bush, let's just ask him what we need to know," sighed Qrow. Naruto didn't seem to be one to engage in small talk. She sighed, but conceded.

"Um, Naruto, the townspeople say you came here a few days ago… where did you come from?" To the Huntress's surprise, his cold expression shifted into one of pain and sadness.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said looking away. Who were they to ask such questions?

"Kid, this is important," urged Qrow. "We're not going to be here long. The communication towers are fine, so we're headed to the next town soon."

"Don't bother," he said without thinking.

"Why not?" asked Summer, dreading the answer. Naruto held his response, before he finally began to accept what happened wasn't, in fact, a nightmare.

"There's nobody left…" he answered softly. His hand touched the hilt of his sword that was concealed by the cloak.

"Naruto… how do you know that?" Naruto stood up suddenly and looked them in the eye.

"I was there!" he replied with mixed emotions. "They're all dead, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it! Grimm showed up, and they killed everybody! Is that what you wanted know?!"

"Actually we were hoping for some better news," sighed Qrow. "Damn it…"

"I'm going to report to Ozpin," said Summer, her voice cracking a little. She stepped outside, and made her call.

"I'm sorry kid," Qrow said to the boy.

"So am I…" he replied, sitting back down. "It just happened so fast…"

"How many were there?" asked Qrow. Naruto shook his head, unsure.

"I don't know… there were dozens of Creeps, and Ursai… at least fifty Beowolves… but the worst part were the Goliaths…"

"You saw a Goliath?" asked Qrow in shock.

"There were more than twenty of them, but we only managed to kill one before we got swarmed," explained Naruto, unsure why he was confessing to the Huntsman. Regardless, it seemed to be helping him feel better, even if it was a tiny amount.

"Who is 'we'?"

"The guards, Gramps and I," replied Naruto, before he fell silent once again. He could still hear Roy's final battle cry. "I'm sorry, I can't talk about it anymore…"

"Don't worry about it kid, you've given us exactly what we came to find out." Qrow looked at the passing waitress, and suddenly a beer sounded pretty good. Before he could decide whether or not to order one, Summer came back in.

"I talked to the Headmaster," she sighed. "He's seems to be taking it hard… but he wants us to stay here to ensure that the Grimm don't make their way over to this village."

"How long?"

"A month," she sighed. "If nothing happens in that time, we're supposed to return to Beacon, and he wants a daily report until then."

"I guess we better get comfortable," Qrow groaned. He looked over to Naruto who was silent. Qrow would normally be a good judge of character, but something about Naruto made him keep guessing. Shrugging, he decided to take a shot in the dark. "Hey kid, you said you killed a Goliath, right? How about we have a little spar to kill some time?"

"Qrow!" chided Summer. "Is that really appropri- wait a Goliath?" she turned back to the blond, who had snapped out of his strange trance. "Are you a Huntsman in training?"

"No," he replied, recalling how this world trained their future 'guardians' of Remnant. As much as he respected Roy, it was Roy himself who admitted that most Huntsmen weren't the noble guardians that the public think they are. "I don't go to combat school, and I won't."

"You could learn a lot," Qrow tried to persuade him. He remember having a similar attitude his first year at Beacon, and was surprised by the knowledge he gained.

"No."

"Listen kid, I know you're in a bad place right now but you can't just let yourself waste away like this. I can count the number of Huntsman who've fought a Goliath and lived on one hand. You obviously have talent-" Naruto let out a snort. "Is something funny?"

"Not really," he scoffed. "Look, I'm not going to some fancy school to learn what I already know how to do. I can do something more worthwhile out here, rather than sit in a class wasting my time."

"He's starting to sound like your sister," Summer noted. It wasn't exactly a compliment nor an insult, but it rang true. "Naruto… If you'll let me, can I ask what it is you think is worth more than learning how to protect the world?"

"Is that what you think you're doing?" he asked incredulously. "You really think that you four are making a lasting impact? I've been here for a year, and I can already see that the idea of Huntsmen is romanticized to the point that they are considered heroes, but it's all a lie."

"Watch what you're saying," warned Qrow. "Talking down on the academies is one thing, but Huntsmen risk their lives every day."

"So did I!" he snapped. "Was I treated with any respect? Did people see me as a hero? NO! The stronger I became, the more justified they felt to call me a demon! In a world where children are trained to kill, _I_ was the one who was singled out and looked down upon for something out of my control!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Summer. It was illegal to train children until they were at least thirteen, although Vacuo was an exception. Even then, they were widely known for their general acceptance of race, so long as you can survive there, which obviously this teen could.

"Kid, I don't know where you grew up, but there are cities that will take you for who you are. Listen, when I first got to Vale, I thought my sister and I would be outcast because of how we were raised, but Summer here, she took us as who we were. You can have to too."

"I'm not going to some combat school!" he growled. "Roy taught me everything I needed to know, he said all I needed was actual battlefield experience."

"Roy?" repeated Summer. "As in Roy Arc?"

"You knew him?" asked Naruto, his tone no longer as cold.

"Well, we never actually met him," admitted Summer, "but he used to be a professor at Beacon about twenty years ago. When he retired, he kept in contact with Ozpin… but…" she paused. Naruto had already confirmed he was dead. The three sat in silence, unsure of how to move on from that. Finally, it was Qrow who broke the silence.

"So you were his friend?" he asked Naruto.

"Something like that," he replied vaguely. "When I showed up, he was one of the few who didn't hate me because I looked like a Faunus." Naruto sounded much older than he was, and his voice sounded tired.

"So I take it he trained you?" asked Summer. Naruto nodded, and shifted his cloak to reveal his black weapon. "Wow! That's yours? It's beautiful!"

"I thought so too," Naruto said with a slight smile. "Roy had actually made it so I would learn."

"If you've been toting around a weapon like that," began Qrow, "why didn't you take that out when Raven attacked you? You took out a knife." Naruto looked away.

"I, um, promised that I would only use it to protect…" he replied. Qrow nodded understandingly, while Summer had gotten up and switched sides to sit next to Naruto. "Um, can I help you?" he asked.

"Can I see it?" she asked, almost pleadingly. Naruto was about to refuse the young woman, but found she brought a familiar sense of security Viola gave him. He unclasps it from his belt and handed it to her. Summer took it as if it was a newborn, and began to marvel at its features.

"Sorry, she's got a bit of a weapon's fetish," explained Qrow, shaking his head. Summer didn't seem to have heard him, as she unsheathed it with trembling hands.

'It's soooo smooth…' she thought to herself. Naruto just looked at her, and his expression lost all coldness it held. Qrow noticed, but didn't comment on it.

"It's alright," he replied, "I'm sure Roy would enjoy people swooning over his masterpiece."

"Well, that's all we really needed to talk to you about," began Qrow, "but don't be afraid to come talk to us, we'll be here a while." There was a sound of metal sliding and some mechanisms shifting into place.

"IT'S A BOW TOO!?" Summer spazzed out. Naruto and Qrow shared a laugh at her strange fondness for the weapons.

"I'll think about it," he replied. Qrow leaned back in his chair, seeing that the boy didn't seem as haunted as when they first met. Naruto looked back to Summer, and made a gesture for her to return his weapon. Once she finally did, he walked out of the small diner.

"I think he'll be alright," Qrow said to Summer.

"I don't know," she replied uneasily. Qrow gave her strange look, and she continued. "I mean, you heard some of the things he said, right? He said he's been trained since he was a kid, he's been hated his entire life, and at one point he referred to Roy as 'gramps' so they must have been close… to have to lose somebody so young…"

"Summer, everybody has something to be upset about, but he's looking forward. When I saw him yesterday, he looked like a walking corpse, but now he almost looks like a normal teenager."

"You think we can take him back to Vale?" she asked, almost as if she was requesting permission. Qrow just gave her a deadpan expression. "

"You realize he isn't some stray dog right?" he asked dryly. "You planning on adopting him?"

"What? No!" she denied. "I want to see if Professor Ozpin would want to talk to him. He knew Roy."

"That doesn't really matter, Summer. The kid knew him for however long he was here, but Ozpin has known Roy for longer than that kid has been alive. I doubt he'd be interested in interrogating a kid who's too young to even attend Beacon."

"I know," she sighed. "Naruto just seems so lonely."

"That's why I told him he could talk to us," replied Qrow. "I left the door open for him, he just has to accept." Summer nodded, and the two left to find their team.

* * *

The following week

* * *

Naruto had walked out of the village, and began to hunt for some food. He didn't feel like dealing with hateful stares, and feeding himself wasn't too hard. That aside, he really needed save his Lien to get some new clothes. As much as he loved the attire Viola had gotten him, it did little to provide actual protection against the elements.

"The thought never crossed her mind," he sighed to himself. He sat against a tree, and opened the bag he had been carrying around since he left. Hesitantly, he pulled out the bottle Viola had been given by her mother. They were supposed to share a drink when he was older, but now, he would never get that chance. Shaking away the depressing thoughts, he found his old headband and the pendant she had gotten him. Naruto couldn't bring himself to open it, and simply put it around his neck. The headband, however, was tattered to the point he couldn't wear it.

 _Snap_

One of his traps had gone off. He put it back into his bag along with the wine, and ran over to the snare he set up. Unfortunately, it wasn't the rabbit he expected. There in front of him was a Beowolf, snarling at him. Without hesitation, he drew his sword and slashed at the beast, immediately killing it. He watched it die passively, but didn't sheathe his weapon. There were more, and they were watching him. He knew their behavior and tendencies, so he remained calm, almost as if he had his guard down. Quiet growling surrounded him, and he could hear the approaching footsteps from behind him. The second Beowolf let out a roar just as it pounced, but Naruto ducked, and stabbed it through its stomach, earning a yelp.

"Come on," he spat. "Your pack isn't big enough."

The rest lunged forward, but Naruto evaded each one, slashing at their exposed sides and throats as they passed. Soon, he was surrounded by the dissipating corpses of the dead Grimm. He stepped over them, and headed to his other traps. To his misfortune, he found that the rest of his snares had been trampled on by the large Grimm.

"Sorry about that kid," said a voice from behind him.

"Qrow?" asked Naruto, looking over. The man was sitting on a large rock, with his massive sword leaning next to him.

"You brought them here?" he asked, as he put his sword away.

"Not intentionally," he answered honestly. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I've fought bigger," Naruto reminded.

"I wasn't talking about the Grimm," Qrow clarified. "Summer is worried about you, so I took it upon myself to check up on you."

"As you saw, I'm fine."

"Kid, you're not fooling anybody. Summer might lack the skill to read social cues, but she can see if something is wrong with somebody. I don't like seeing her upset, so do us both a favor, and talk to her."

"I don't have anything to say," he argued, looking away. "Look, tell her I appreciate it, but I'm fine. I don't need to make any new friends."

"Is that what you're afraid of?" asked Qrow.

"I'm not afraid of anything," he denied. "I just can't stand to lose people anymore."

"That's no way to live, kid," Qrow said, shaking his head. "Losing somebody is hard, but having nobody is a nightmare. Think about it this way, if you were never friends with Roy, you wouldn't have the memories the two of you made."

"It's not that," he sighed. "Look, Roy wasn't the first person I lost. I used to have a grandfather back home, but he was killed when I was twelve."

"Then why push away Summer?" asked Qrow, now confused. "She's a Huntress, and a damn good one at that."

"She reminds me of somebody else," replied Naruto. "Somebody I failed to protect. I'm sure Summer is great, but… it hurts to be reminded."

"That's not it either." Naruto looked up at the Huntsman, a bit annoyed. "You're afraid of being happy."

"That's stupid, who would be afraid of that?"

"You apparently," sighed Qrow. "When Summer was looking at you sword last week, you smiled, and it wasn't a polite one, no, it was a goofy one. Then, immediately after, you decide to leave."

"And?"

"You're afraid of being happy, because that means it might come to an end." Qrow got up, and grabbed his sword. "At least that's the way I see it. Look, I'm headed back to my team. You know where to find us if you want to talk."

"R-right," replied Naruto. As Qrow left, Naruto took a seat on the grass and began to think of the words the Huntsman had departed with. It seemed outrageous at first, and made little to no sense. He was happy for a full year, that's proof he wasn't afraid of it… right? He gathered his belongings, and headed back to the village.

Once he arrived, he headed to his makeshift shack at the edge of town. Similar to the previous village, the center of town was just a front for how well off they were, and he was forced to make a home in the slums. He didn't have much, so there was no issue with the space, but he doubted that Viola would be happy with his new living arrangement. Once his mind was on Viola, he remembered one of the things she said to him not long after they met.

" _There are good people in this world, and even if it's hard to find them sometimes, you have to keep looking."_

"Looks like I found them," he said to himself. He got up, and decided to give the four Huntsman a chance.

* * *

"And that pretty much sums it up, Professor," said Summer, sitting on a crate. "Since it's been so peaceful the last week, I thought I'd take the team to patrol outside the walls, just to make sure there aren't any nesting grounds that could provide some quick reinforcements to the Grimm if there is an attack."

"That's a good idea," said the Headmaster through the scroll. He appeared to be thinking of something else at the moment, but remained silent.

"Professor, I'm sorry our team couldn't get here faster…" she apologized solemnly.

"Don't worry about that," assured Ozpin. "I know you and your team did your very best. I can't fault you for that."

"Thank you," she said with a sad smile. "I'll report in tomorrow, good bye, Professor Ozpin." She hung up the scroll, and put it away in a hidden pocket in her hood. She hopped off the crates, and began walking back to her team, when she saw Naruto walking towards her. "Oh, Naruto! Hi!"

"Hey Summer," greeted Naruto awkwardly.

"Qrow is back at the inn," she replied.

"I wasn't looking for him," he replied, dragging out the 'm' to fill the silence.

"Oh." The two stood there awkwardly for a moment, before Naruto finally broke the silence.

"I never got to thank you or Qrow for the food last week, or the shower."

"You don't need to," she tried to assure.

"No, I do," he insisted. "I was- er, _am_ going through a hard time right now. I didn't realize at the time, but talking to you guys made me feel a little better."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said, unable to hide her bashful smile. "You're welcomed to talk to us whenever you'd like."

"Thanks," he said, rubbing the back of head. "Actually… If you aren't busy at the moment…"

"Of course not!" she said a bit too eagerly. "Do you want to meet my team? Officially, I mean… with no swords or knives."

"Kunai," he corrected. "They're called kunai."

"Oh, well, that too," she added with an awkward laughed. Her expression turned into one of hope. "So, is that a yes?"

"Um, sure," he sighed. Summer grabbed the shorter boy's hand and dragged him eagerly to the inn.

* * *

"What do you mean you have a higher kill count?" asked Tai. "In our last mission, I killed at least a hundred Grimm."

"You might have more if we just include that time, but all together, I have almost twice as many Grimm kills than you," smirked Qrow. "It's one of the advantages of having a real weapon, and not some glorified boxing gloves."

"Hey, I could take you and your over-sized gardening tool any day!" Tai rose from his seat and stared down Qrow, who was sitting back in his chair aloofly.

"Uh huh, sure you can," Qrow replied, as he took a sip of water.

"Let's spar right now then!" demanded Tai. "Or should I start calling you Chicken instead of Qrow?"

"You can't goad me into a fight with elementary school insults, Tai."

"Bawk bawk bawk!" was Tai's reply as he began to walk around Qrow like a chicken.

"Seriously?"

"BAWK BAWK MOTHERFUCKER!" shouted Tai. Summer and Naruto just arrived, witnessing Tai's strange outburst.

"Is he always like that?" asked Naruto, looking at Summer.

"Um, sort of," she laughed awkwardly. "Tai! Language!" The clucking man just threw his arms down in defeat, and walked back over to his stool. "So that was Taiyang."

"I don't know which impression is worse… the clucking or the kick in the face," he whispered to her, earning a small laugh.

"You talking smack kid? I'll throw down with a teenager, I don't give a f-"

"TAI!" interrupted Summer, and turned to Qrow. "He's been drinking, hasn't he?"

"Yea, you know how he is," sighed Qrow. Tai was a fun guy to be around, but when he engaged in his party-mode, it was hard to keep up. "He hasn't drank enough to start breaking things, since we're ' _on the field'_ and all."

"Ok, let's try to keep it that way," she sighed. "Where's Raven?"

"She went out to, well, you know… do Raven things," replied Qrow. "She should be back before nightfall."

"Ah, I see," Summer sighed sadly. "Well, Naruto wanted to meet us officially. I'll go first!" She turned back to the young teen, who was looking around the inn idly. "So Naruto, I'm Summer Rose, leader of team STRQ! Heh, I guess you know that already from the other day, right?"

"I wasn't myself then," admitted Naruto. "Nice to meet you Summer." The young woman beamed at him, much happier with this response than the one he gave before. She motioned to Qrow, who got off his stool and walked over to Naruto.

"'Sup kid? I'm Qrow Branwen, Summer's partner," greeted Qrow, although he and Naruto had already shared more than a few words already. Naruto just gave him a polite smile and nodded. "Tai, get over here."

"Yea, yea," the blond brawler conceded as he got the gist of what was going on. "I'm Taiyang Xiao Long, bona fide ladies' man, and expert Grimm slayer. If you've seen it, I've probably killed it."

"How modest," Qrow said rolling his eyes. "Tai, Naruto isn't exactly a civilian, so you're bragging isn't going to impress him."

"I know that" said Tai, rolling his eyes, before looking down to Naruto. "Yea, you almost hit Rae with that weird Aura attack. You're a Huntsman in training?"

"No," he replied evenly, "but I can hold my own."

"You're pretty young to be fighting Grimm," remarked Tai. "I mean, since you're not a student."

"And I never will be," replied Naruto. Summer and Qrow just mentally sighed as they had heard his opinion on Huntsmen once before, and Tai wasn't exactly sober at the moment.

"Didn't make the cut or something?" asked Tai, unknowingly challenging Naruto's pride. "That's alright, not everybody is a diamond in the rough like your's truly was."

"I'm too good for some preppy school to take me in," shot back Naruto, getting riled up.

"You sound just like Tai," remarked Raven, who had arrived some time ago. She had been quietly observing their argument, an amused smirk on her face.

"I'm nothing like him!" the two blonds shouted at her, only to turn back and glare.

"Oh, I'm sure you aren't," she replied sarcastically. Tai and Naruto just glared at each other, before Qrow broke the silence.

"So, are you two going to keep staring lovingly at each other eyes, or are you going to fight?" he asked, internally smirking as he could read their body language. Tai and Naruto didn't break eye contact, and began to make their way outside.

"Oh dear…" began Summer, as she ran out after them. Raven seemed mildly amused, and turned to her brother.

"Since when did you enjoy making two people fight?" she asked.

"I normally don't," he admitted coolly, "but this time should be interesting. Hey Naruto, are you going to use your weapon this time?"

"Nah," shrugged Naruto, reaching for the sword in question. He unclasped it, and handed it to Summer, who took it gratefully, and began to ogle at it. Tai didn't give the sword itself a second thought, but was visibly miffed.

"I'll have you know, I specialize in hand-to-hand combat, kid. You might want to think this through," warned Tai, taking his boxing stance. Naruto casually dismissed him, and fell into his combat stance.

"Yea, yea," he replied, rolling his eyes. He formed his signature seal, and wordlessly, three clones popped into existence in front of Naruto. Taiyang smirked, and rushed at the teen, sparking the three clones to charge into the fray. Tai easily evaded all of their strikes, seeing that they seemed to be completely random, and countered with a devastating uppercut to one, an elbow to the second, finished off with a swift chop to the last one's neck.

"Was that it?" he mocked the teen, only to see he was nowhere to be seen. "Goddamnit, where did the little bastard go?" Tai felt danger approaching, and ducked as a clone came barreling through the air like a rocket, only to hit a tree and disperse. "You use your Semblance like cannon fodder?"

"I'd like to think of it as being unpredictable," replied Naruto, falling down above Tai. With a mighty heave, he chucked another clone straight down, not leaving Tai any time to evade. Instead, Tai jumped up, and met him head on, dispelling the clone with a roundhouse.

"Don't think you'll be able to beat me like this," scolded Tai with a scowl. "This isn't even fun. Especially when they go away after one hit."

"I think I've gathered enough about you," replied the real Naruto, as he stepped from behind a tree, a confident smirk on his face. He rushed towards the older blond at a speed nobody on team STRQ was prepared for. In a blur, Naruto appeared in front of Tai, and landed a clean punch to his face, sending him flying back. "You're not as fast as tall, dark and emo over there, but you can hit pretty damn hard."

"Did he just call Raven..?" asked Summer, looking to Qrow, who was biting back a laugh.

"He did," he replied. The two looked over to Raven, who was narrowing her eyes at the teenage nuisance. Tai on the other hand stood up, brushing the attack off easily, and walked back over to the shinobi.

"That was a hell of a punch," admitted Tai. "I didn't expect that much power from a kid like you. Unfortunately for you, I'm pretty durable."

"I was hoping you'd say that," smiled Naruto, as he crossed his fingers again. Tai wasn't impressed at his repeated tactics, but when he felt a huge pulse of energy, followed by a loud poof of smoke, he was awestruck at the sight. There was easily over a hundred Narutos, all cracking their knuckles.

"T-that's a lot of clones," he said dumbly. A moment passed, before the army of clones all charged at once, swarming the lone bruiser. Qrow, Summer and even Raven just sat there with shocked expressions.

"He realizes this is just a spar, right?" asked Summer, concerned for Tai.

"Yea, otherwise, he'd be cutting him up," reminded Qrow, gesturing to the sword she was holding. Summer nodded, still concerned for her teammate, who disappeared in the waves of Naruto's.

Tai felt punches and kicks in every direction. The blond teen was stronger than he expected, and even if he dispersed a clone, three more would just take its place. Eventually, he was forced to ball up, and just weather the beating. Naruto watched idly, as his clones began to dissipate.

"Not bad," he heard Taiyang say. The older brawler got up to his feet, his legs shaking under his weight. "I'm definitely going to feel that tomorrow." Tai got back into his fighting stance, although he was clearly exhausted. "Can I have another?"

"That's enough," interrupted Summer. "Tai, you should know better than to push yourself this hard when we're on the field."

"Sorry," said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I went a little overboard, didn't I?"

"You got Tai to shut up and he's still alive" replied Qrow, "I think that you stopped at the perfect time."

"Qrow!" chided Summer, although she was visibly holding back a smile. She turned back to Tai, and was surprised to see Raven walking towards him. She grabbed his arm, and wrapped it around her shoulder to help him stay upright.

"Heh, what's the occasion?" asked Tai, through a pained laugh. Raven could smell a hint of alcohol on his breath.

"Shut up, or I'll drop you," she replied, rolling her eyes. "It's bad enough you got beat by a kid…"

"If I knew this would happen after, I'd lose sooner," he grinned, rubbing his ribs. Raven didn't respond, and simply helped him to his room.

"So…" began Naruto, turning to Qrow and Summer, "how was I?"

"I'm impressed," replied Qrow. "Tai isn't easy to put down, but you did it in record time."

"Really?"

"Yea, he's right," agreed Summer. "Even if you did outnumber him, I've never seen anybody hold their own against Tai right off the bat. Especially not somebody as young as you."

"Tai's a tough guy, but he's kind of slow," replied Naruto. "I found that out when he dispelled the first of my clones."

"Your Semblance allows you to learn in the heat of battle?" asked Summer.

"I guess so," replied Naruto with a thoughtful expression. Thinking back, he did realize that his clones did facilitate fights more than just overwhelming his opponents.

"That's a really unique ability," commented Qrow, mumbling to himself. "To make clones is already useful, but to use them as an instrument of gathering intel…"

"Oh, here's your sword," replied Summer, realizing she had been holding it still. Naruto took it gratefully, and put it back in place. She seemed to have a pensive look on her face, which caught Naruto's attention.

"What's on your mind?" asked the ninja.

"I, um…" she began, wondering if she should ask him. She turned to Qrow, who was still mumbling to himself. "Well, tomorrow, I was going to have my team patrol the surrounding forest for any Grimm nests. Do you think you'd want to see us in action?"

"You want me going on a mission with you?" asked Naruto, trying to clarify. Summer nodded hesitantly, pulling her hood down a bit. "Uh, why?"

"The mission itself isn't too dangerous," she added quickly. "It's just, I don't know how long it'll take, and um, well… Qrow help me out here!" she shouted in a whisper.

"Oh, what she's trying to say is, is that we might need the backup?" he asked, looking over to his leader. Summer just palmed her face, as Qrow shrugged.

"I mean, I'm not doing anything," began Naruto, scratching his head, "so if you want me there, I guess I can lend a hand."

"That's great!" cheered Summer, hugging the slightly shorter teen briefly. "I might get to see that sword in action!" Qrow and Naruto gave her a disbelieving stare.

" _That's_ why you wanted him/me along?" the two asked. Summer just laughed nervously.

"Of course not!" she said with a tinge of pink. "I just want to make sure our new friend won't be alone tomorrow."

' _Friend'_ thought Naruto. 'Does she already consider me a friend?'

"I guess that makes sense," sighed Qrow, turning back to the inn. "Well, it's getting late; I'm going to turn in for the night."

"I'll see you two tomorrow then," replied Naruto, ready to turn his own way.

"Wait, don't go yet," said Summer quickly, but quietly. She turned to see that Qrow was already gone, and Raven had likely stayed when she took Tai. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Have you been lying to me this entire time?" Naruto asked, false hurt in his voice.

"What?! No! That's not what I meant!" she tried to defend.

"I'm kidding, Summer," replied Naruto with a small smile. "Go ahead, what's up?"

"Oh, right of course," she said relieved. She stared at the ground as she began to speak "I just wanted you to know that I'm worried about you…"

"I'm fine, Summer, there isn't-"

"I'm not done," she interrupted, looking into his eyes. "I'm worried about you, but I respect your privacy… I won't pry you for answers, and I won't bring it up in front of the others… Just kn… I'll be here for you to hear you out..."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Naruto, sighing sadly. Summer's already gentle gaze had softened, which stirred familiar feeling in his stomach. "I'll see you tomorrow…" He left without another word, and as soon as he turned the corner, he sprinted as fast he could to get home. Once he was in his small shack, he bit his forearm and began to yell into it. A few minutes later, he sat on the floor, his eyes threatening to burst into tears any second. Why did Summer remind him so much of Viola? The two looked nothing alike, yet they shared the same kind smile that made his heart ache. He hated how Summer made him feel, but couldn't blame her for the resemblance she shared with his best friend. He took a few calming breaths, and dried his eyes.  
"Viola would want me to be happy," he said to himself. "She always has…" Naruto tried to get to sleep, but found it impossible. After an hour, he heard a booming voice.

" **Kit,** ' said the Kyuubi, his usual malice gone. " **I think it's time we've talked…** "

* * *

The following morning

* * *

"So the brat really is coming?" asked Tai, a bit bitter about his loss from the day before.

"Yea, he said he'd see me tomorrow," replied Summer with a smile, but it was obvious it was forced. Qrow leaned against a building, yawning a bit.

"I kinda want to see that sword of his in action too," admitted Qrow. He wasn't as fanatical as Summer when it came to weapons, but he did appreciate a well-crafted weapon.

"Yea, it would be cool," replied Summer, sighing in content.

"Shouldn't we get moving soon?" asked Raven, a bit fed up with waiting. She turned her red eyes to Summer, and frowned further. "I still think it's a bad idea to bring along some kid on out mission. He'll just get in the way."

"Relax," began Qrow, "it's just a routine patrol mission. There probably won't even be any fighting involved." Raven scoffed, and crossed her arms. A few minutes later, Naruto arrived, although it was obvious he had reservations. "What's wrong kid?"

"Nothing," replied the blond ninja. "I just came to tell you I can't go with you."

"What, why not?" asked Summer. She immediately regretted her parting words with the teen the night before. Naruto on the other hand just seemed to be tired.

"I didn't sleep much last night," he replied. "In fact, I didn't sleep at all. I would just be dead weight the way I am… besides I'm not even a part of your team anyway. I'll be here when you four get back." Summer wanted to protest, but Qrow spoke up first.

"If that's the case, you better go get some sleep now, kid. We'll see you around." Naruto nodded, and turned to leave, but surprisingly Tai grabbed his shoulder.

"I don't know why you're in this funk, but I want a rematch when I get back. Last night was a fluke."

"Tai!" Summer cried anxiously, only to see Naruto grin slightly.

"Alright old man, you're on," replied the teen.

"I'm not old!" denied Tai, but held a competitive grin. As the group parted from the village, Summer was still confused, so she decided to ask.

"Tai, how did you know that would cheer him up?" she asked.

"Cheer who up?" asked Taiyang.

"Naruto. You asked for a rematch," she clarified. "How did you know that would cheer him up?"

"I wasn't trying to," he replied. "I legit want a rematch! There is no way some snot nose kid beat me."

"Tai, do you remember what happened?" asked Qrow.

"I remember seeing double," admitted the blond brawler. "After that, just pain, really."

"You weren't seeing double, the kid can clone himself," replied Raven with a disappointed sigh. "Honestly, with how little you pay attention during a fight, it's a miracle you're still alive."

"I guess that just makes you my good luck charm," Tai replied smoothly. Raven ignored his comment, and rolled her eyes. Tai turned back to Summer and shrugged. "It's not often I find another person who's that good at martial arts. You, Qrow and Raven aren't push-overs or anything, but I'm the only one who specializes in it, you know? You three are much better with your weapons than you are with your fists. That's why I asked for a rematch. Besides, I'm going to be sober this time."

"Oh, right," agreed Summer. She walked back in front of the group to lead them, wondering about the blond enigma. There was something about him that stood out to her, she just didn't know what.

* * *

With Naruto

* * *

"Alright, they're gone," said Naruto, mumbling to himself. "What did you want to show me?"

" **Do you remember how these ants treated you when you arrived here?"**

"I don't see why that matters," replied Naruto, glancing at the passersby. Despite the glares, they didn't actively bother him. "They've left me alone for the last week."

" **That's because that team of Huntsmen is here,** " the fox growled in annoyance. " **Why do you let these meat-bags get away with this? You could put each and every one in the ground without breaking a sweat; why act like you don't hate them?** "

"I don't hate them," he denied, although he wasn't very convincing. "Well, they aren't as bad as the villagers in Konoha… They just don't understand me, and that feeds their hatred."

" **There is one big difference between Konoha's scum-bags and these piles of filth.** "

"What would that be?"

" **These pieces of trash know nothing about me. The garbage of Konoha hated you because I was sealed inside you. They feared that if I got loose, I'd finish the job. They weren't wrong, but the point is, the scum here and the town before; they hated you the second you arrived.** "

Naruto remained silent. The Kyuubi had a point, as much as it pained Naruto to admit it. What _had_ he done to these new people to earn this type of hatred? He balled up his fist, and tried to rein in his anger.

"So what would you have me do? Kill them? I'm not a monster," he uttered. "I won't hurt innocent people, just because they make you mad."

" **You honestly still believe they're innocent? Do you think that they are worth saving?!** "

"I didn't say they were worth saving," Naruto growled back. Suddenly he registered the words that left his mouth. Had he really just said that? Shaking his head, he tried to rid the thoughts from his head. "Stop feeding me negativity!"

" **I had nothing to do with that,** " replied the Kyuubi, the smirk almost audible in his voice. " **If that's how you truly feel, it seems our interests align more than I thought.** "

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto, sick of hearing the booming voice. He looked around and realized that he had taken to wandering around town again. He received a lot of stares, and tried to make himself disappear.

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful, and Naruto tried to forget about his outburst earlier. He headed to his small shack when it was nightfall, and was surprised to see a familiar, yet unwelcomed face.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked the woman.

"I just wanted to talk," replied Raven, sizing him up. "Something tells me you've got an interesting story."

"And what makes you think I'd tell you of all people?"

"You know, you have the same look in your eye as some of the people I knew growing up," she replied, ignoring his question. "Some might say they were bad people, and others, evil, but I didn't look at them that way."

"What are you talking about?" Raven smirked, and walked closer to the teen, who tensed up.

"How did you get to be so strong at such a young age?" she asked simply.

"I did what I had to do to survive," he replied evenly. Raven gave him an approving look.

"And survive you did," she replied coyly. Naruto didn't like the way she circled around him, but did nothing, hoping it would end the encounter faster. "If there is one thing in this world I respect, that is strength. What upsets me about you, is that you hide it."

"So what?"

"I've thought about it all last night, and today during our patrol… and I can't think of a reason why anybody would do that. So, if you would, enlighten me, Naruto."

"I'm not trying to hide it," he replied, "but I don't abuse my strengths either."

"Hmm," she hummed, as she stopped in front of him. Raven stared into Naruto's eyes, and he stared back defiantly. She smirked, and backed off a bit. "You're definitely an interesting one." Without another word, she left, leaving a confused Naruto behind.

"I guess team STRQ is back," mumbled Naruto, as he went into his shack. He grabbed the single blanket he owned, and tried to get to sleep. Unfortunately within a few minutes, he heard a familiar howling in the distance. He jumped to his feet, his hand already on the handle of his sword. He listened closely, and a moment later, another howl was heard, followed by screeching.  
"Grimm…" he mumbled to himself. Without a second thought, Naruto had run to the center of the town, where all four entrances were readily visible. He heard another howl, this time it was clearly from the southern entrance, and he rushed over, feeling adrenaline coursing through his body. It was happening again. He couldn't let this town fall. Upon arriving at the gate, he saw countless red eyes burning in the distance. Naruto's mind was racing, and he realized that if the Grimm broke through the gates, the creatures would be a huge advantage. He'd have to take the fight to them.

"I'll make them all pay," he whispered to himself, unsheathing his ebony blade. He leaped over the walls, and ran towards the army of dark creatures. The first Grimm he ran into were Ursai, each of them towering over him. Naruto remembered his training with Roy, and allowed them the first move. As predicted, the closest one took a wide swing at him, which was easily evade. As the Ursa roared, it found itself without an arm. Naruto locked eyes with the beast fearlessly, and began to cut it down. In mere seconds, five Ursa fell. He turned towards the village, to ensure that no Grimm had gotten past him, and was relieved when he saw none. Turning back to the sea of red eyes, he noticed that there seem to be Nevermores arriving in the distance. He would have to take them out first, as they could rain deadly feathers from above, and the walls would do nothing but keep the villagers caged in. Crossing his fingers, Naruto created six clones, who paired off and charged at the aerial terrors. Knowing that his clones were more that capable of taking out the Nevermores, Naruto turned his attention back to the pack of Beowolves. The Alpha roared, and the pack charged at Naruto, who found it increasingly difficult to keep up.

"Piss off!" he cursed, as he dismembered a few of them, only for the Alpha to roar once more, causing reinforcements to arrive. Naruto easily took care of those, and locked eyes with the nuisance that was the Alpha. He sheathed his sword, and ran toward it, forming a small blue orb in his hand. "I've had it with you and your kind!" he roared, as he slammed the technique into the Grimm. With a whimper, the Grimm died, and Naruto rose from it, feeling all the anger he's held in rising to the surface. He heard more distant howls, and let out a roar of his own. He vaguely felt the red chakra surface, but didn't acknowledge it. He fell to all fours, and sprinted into the distance, meeting his opposition wherever they may be.

* * *

With Team STRQ

* * *

"I knew this would happen!" growled Taiyang, as he put down another Ursa. The team had awoken to the roar of distant Beowolves, and sprang into action. The four of them ran outside the walls of the village, and began to hear howls everywhere. Summer was about to order that they split into pairs, but they heard a roar that sounded less like Grimm, and more akin to a demon. Then, something surprising happened. All the Grimm they saw stopped dead in their tracks, looked over to the roar and ran toward it.

"What's going on?" asked Summer. "I've never seen Grimm act this way before."

"There's a first time for everything," said Qrow, gripping his sword tighter. "Chances are the worst of them have gathered over there."

"Which means they've all gathered up for us to pound them into the ground!" smirked Taiyang, cracking the joints in his neck.

"We should still be cautious," warned Summer. The Branwen twins nodded in agreement, and Tai's expression turned serious. It wasn't often that their leader would remind them to be careful, so he knew it wasn't time for playfulness. The four headed over to the southern gate.

* * *

Naruto shook with rage as he torn another Grimm apart with his bare hands. His fatigue didn't register, as the only thought in his mind was to destroy the creatures that robbed him of his happiness, of Viola. Letting the red chakra dissipate, he stood up straight, as he looked down to an Ursa that couldn't stand anymore.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked, almost psychotically. He stared into the suffering Grimm's eyes, and smiled widely. "Don't have any fight left in you?" With a vicious stomp, Naruto crushed the Ursa's skull, bone armor and all. He drew his sword with practiced ease, shifted it into its longbow form, and shot down three smaller Nevermores. Without missing a beat, he shifted it back into the sword form, and decapitated a Beowolf that attempted to sneak behind him. He fell to one knee, and began to breathe heavily, his lack of sleep beginning to catch up with him, but willed himself to stand once more. He would not fall, he refused to. He looked over to the closest Grimm, and realized he hadn't seen this kind before. It resembled a gorilla of some sort, and it had massive plates of armor all over its impressive body. Naruto grinned, and pointed his sword towards it.

"I didn't realize Grimm could be cowards," he taunted, knowing well the creature couldn't understand him. Regardless, the Grimm began to approach him slowly, and picked up speed. Naruto lowered his stance, ready to dodge any sort of strike the beast could have, but it did something unexpected. As it passed by a Boarbatusk, it picked it up with one hand and threw it at Naruto at an impressive speed. Naruto raised his sword to block, knowing that he didn't have time to dodge, and was knocked off his feet. The Boarbatusk seemed unfazed, and began to spin, ready to roll at the fallen Naruto. Before the boar-like Grimm got close, it was cut cleanly in two by a massive sword.

"Qrow?" asked Naruto, recognizing the man. From behind Qrow, Raven slashed at the Beowolves that had begun to close in, cutting them all cleanly in half. The gorilla-like Grimm began to pound its chest and roared only for Tai to land in front of the Grimm, and mimic its actions. The Grimm didn't seem amused, and tried to punch Tai, but to Naruto's surprise, Tai blocked it, and countered with a rising uppercut that seemed to stun the Grimm. As it rocked back and forth, Tai cocked his fist back, and punched the Beringel, which was followed by a small explosion. The Beringel had a huge chunk of its chest plate missing, and began to roar in pain.

"Come on, we're not scared of you, ya damn dirty ape!" shouted Tai. The Grimm raised both its arms up to crush the Huntsman, only for them to get severed by the leader of the group. Summer stood protectively in front of her team, a double-sided battle-ax in her left hand. She raised the seemingly heavy weapon effortlessly, and cut the Grimm's head off, and let out a breath of relief. She rushed over to Naruto, worry plastered over her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked panicked. "Oh my, you're bleeding! Is anything broken?"

"Calm down Summer, I'm sure he'll be fine," assured Qrow, seeing the look on Naruto's face. "Give him some space."

"No!" she flat out refused. "He's just a teen! Even if he can fight, I'm not going to _not_ worry about him!" She turned back to Naruto, her silver eyes full of concern. "Can you walk? Do you need us to carry you back? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," replied Naruto, finally letting the exhaustion set in. "I'm… just a little tired…" he slurred, as his eyes finally closed. Summer seemed to have taken it the wrong way.

"NO! Don't die on me!" she pleaded, trying to shake the boy awake. "Wake up!"

"I said I was tired!" Naruto snapped. "Geez woman, let a guy sleep!"

"Oh… I'm sorry," Summer said quietly, blushing from embarrassment. "Y-you do that. We'll take you back to town, alright?" Naruto nodded, and promptly fell asleep, unable to stay awake any longer. Summer picked him up bridal style, and began to walk back to the village, her team following behind.

"There wasn't really that many," noted Tai.

"Agreed," replied Raven. "Usually Beowolves usually don't howl unless there is a couple dozen in the area."

"Well, Naruto is no push over," replied Qrow, although he himself was having trouble believing it. "Still… for one kid to take out that many so fast… that's unreal."

"Hmm," replied Raven, crossing her arms as she walked.

"Can you three do me a favor?" asked Summer.

"What is it?" asked Qrow.

"Can you look around the surround forest, to make sure we got them all? We can't be too sure there aren't more lurking out there…"

"Yea, of course," agreed Tai. "You tuck little one in, we'll be back in no time."

"Thank you," replied Summer, relieved. "I'll make it up to you back home."

"Does that mean you're going to make your famous cookies?" asked Tai, already drooling.

"If that's what you want, sure," smiled Summer. "I'll make you two some too," she added looking over to Raven and Qrow. Qrow nodded, but Raven just shrugged, as she wasn't a fan of sweets. Once they arrived to the gate, Summer continued on with Naruto in tow. She didn't know where the boy lived, so she just took him back to the inn her team was staying at. She put him down gently on her bed, making sure to cover him up snuggly.  
"I can't imagine what you've gone through," she whispered to the sleeping kid. "I just wish I could help you…" she laughed to herself, as she looked at Naruto. "You know, Raven tells me that my problem is that I try to help too many people; that it's unrealistic for me to think I can do that… but it doesn't make me want to try any less…"

Naruto let out a quiet snore.

"And now I'm just talking to some kid I met a little over a week ago while he sleeps in my room…" she laughed again. "Well get some rest… I'll sleep in Qrow's room. I don't think he'd mind. Goodnight…"

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So, I have a few reviews asking some questions, and although I answered them privately, I thought I'd answer them here in case anybody had the same questions and didn't review.**

 **THE-Twilight-Blazeknight: You didn't ask a question, but shout out for helping me out with Team Monochrome all this time, and being a loyal reader. Thank you for the support, and I hope you enjoy this story as well.**

 **Kalomin: The story will not skip to the beginning Vol 1, and _will_ consist of original arcs.**

 **Six samurai of Dragon Order: The RWBY cast will not be seen for a long time, as in this time line, they haven't been born yet. I started my story here, because I have already begun to write one that starts closer to canon, and felt like doing something new.**

 **0DY553U5: Roy's lineage will play a role later, Naruto will NOT be attending any sort of huntsman academy, and the RWBY cast will not be introduced early, as this takes twenty years before canon, which is three years before Weiss, Blake and Yang were born, and five before Ruby was born.**

 **Kami no Sennin: Naruto will meet the older cast (as seen with this chapter) , although not all of them, and not at the same time.**

 **Two-one kf: Am I planning on making Naruto a teacher? Well, no, not at all, but my stories have a tendency to take a life of their own.**

 **The Exiled Darkness: I just wanted to let you know that I initially read your review as "This story is shit", and was very confused by the second part that proceeded to praise it, as you actually wrote "This story is the shit," which is a huge difference. Thank you for the encouragement, and hopefully you found my error as funny as I did.**

 **Lucifer's Remnants: Naruto will be twenty years older by the time the RWBY cast attends Beacons, and will be thirty-five, as he's already spent a year, making Naruto fifteen as of now.**

 **Alright that wraps up the reviewers who had questions, and I want to thank the rest of you who took the time to read and review, as it means a lot. I'll see you all during the next update, and if you have any further questions, I'll gladly respond through private message, if you don't leave a review.**

 **~LVR6**


	3. Berserk

Chapter Three: Berserk

* * *

Naruto stared at the giant mass of darkness that seemed to be growing. The formless beast roared with enough force to knock him off his feet. Struggling to face his adversary, Naruto let out a sound of frustration. Barely managing to get up, he looked up at the beast's mouth, which had endless rows of jagged teeth. He refused to be intimidated, despite knowing he stood little chance at defeating the strange creature.

"I'm not scared of you!" he shouted, defying the monster any satisfaction. The shadows began to melt, and the strange liquid it morphed into surrounded him. Despite having a firm surface to stand on before, as the liquid surrounded his feet, Naruto began to sink into it. He struggled to get free, but it was hopeless. The tar-like substance began to stick to his skin, causing a burning sensation all over. He tried tearing it off, but his skin was torn with it.

"GET OFF ME!" he shouted, but his voice was warped. He continued to sink until he was completely submerged, and his world became dark. He felt like he was suffocating, but soon found himself freefalling. Panicked, he tried to right himself to land on his feet, but his body felt strange. Without warning, he stopped, not feeling any pain. Dazed, he looked around his new surroundings, and saw tall trees and a familiar village far off in the distance. Nostalgia filled his chest, and he realized where he was. The walls were just as he remembered them, and couldn't help but want to go in. He walked towards the village, but as he got closer, it began to fall apart. His heart sinking, he fell into a sprint, and kicked down the gates. He was relieved to see the buildings were not damaged, but something caught his attention.

"Get the Grimm!" he heard somebody shout. Scanning the area, Naruto didn't see any, but felt something pierce his chest. He looked down to see a spear sticking out his black torso, and it wasn't until he registered what it was did he feel pain. Confused, he looked at his hands, only to see them pitch black with bony white claws at the end of his fingers. He tried to speak, but only growling came out. Before he could further inspect his body, he felt a sharp pain on his legs, and saw Roy slashing at him. Naruto fell to the ground, as he watched the old Arc stalk towards him.

"You foul beast," the man uttered. "You have no place among humans. Now, BEGONE!" His sword began to glow white, and before Naruto could react, his arm fell to the ground, dissipating in a black wisp.

'I'm not a monster,' Naruto thought to himself, afraid of dying to one of his best friends. He ran past the old man as he prepared another swing, and headed to the one place he knew he was safe. He dodged incoming arrows, although he felt a decent number embed themselves into his back. Once he arrived to the backstreets of the village, he stopped to catch his breath. Limping down the familiar path, he headed home. Upon arriving to the torn up house, he felt immense relief wash over him as the door was intact. Steeling his nerves, Naruto began to walk towards the house, but stopped. If Roy didn't recognize him, would Viola? The uncertainty was enough to make him hesitate. He stood there, unmoving, as he felt tears falling from his face. He wiped them away, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his arm had returned to its normal flesh color.

"I'm human again," he said aloud. Now, nothing was stopping him from entering his home. Running in, he began to look for his best friend, the woman who took him in. "Viola! I'm here! Everything is going to be ok! Where are you?"

"Naruto?" he heard her call out. She was in her bedroom, and what's more, she seems to have no clue about the battle going on outside. Without thinking to knock, he rushed inside, desperate to see her smiling once more. He looked around, but didn't see her. "Down here."

"What?" he asked, looking down only for his stomach to drop. She was mangled, and suddenly, blood began to stain everything in the room. Her severed head looked up to him, and began to cry blood.

"You… failed," she whispered. Naruto dropped to his knees, looking at her slowing beginning to decay. Her skin began to peel first, and her voice became raspy. "I'm dead… because of you…"

"Viola…" whispered Naruto, her words stabbing through his heart like a jagged blade. It was exactly what he feared she thought of him in hey dying moments. "I tried so hard…"

"Naruto…" whispered Viola. Naruto couldn't bear to look at her, and closed his eyes, willing the nightmare to go away. Viola's calls got more desperate, which only made him shut his eyes tighter. "Naruto!"

"I'm sorry," he cried, covering his face with his arm.

"NARUTO!" she shouted.

* * *

"I'M SORRY!" cried Naruto waking up in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily, and was looking at his trembling hands to ensure he hadn't turned into a Grimm again. He didn't notice the scared young woman sitting next to him.

"N-naruto?" whispered Summer. Naruto flinched at her voice, and backed away, staring at her with panicked eyes. "It was just a bad dream," she tried to assure him. Naruto had calmed his breathing, and sighed tiredly, but he it was apparent that he was still trembling.

"Yea… a bad dream," he repeated in his shaking voice. 'One I will never wake from…' he thought bitterly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly. "You seem really shaken up about it."

"I rather not," replied Naruto, the images burned into his mind. In a pathetic attempt, he tried to change the subject. "Where am I?"

"Oh, I brought you back to the inn we were staying at," she said with a smile. "I didn't know if you had a place to stay, and even if you did, I didn't know where… so I brought you to my room."

"You didn't have to do that," he sighed, "but thank you."

"Don't worry about it," she smiled at him, as she took a seat on the bed next to him. "You know, I thought about what you said the day we met."

"What part?" he asked, hoping it wasn't when he was in his foul mood.

"That as a Huntress, I wasn't doing anything to change the world," she replied, confirming Naruto's suspicions. "I wanted to argue with you, but you were right. I can't change the world by myself."

"Summer, I didn't mean to-"

"I'm not finished," she chided gently. "What I figured after was that even if I can't change the world, I can change somebody's world. You may or may not think I'm making a huge difference, but at the end of the day, I know that somebody might live to see another day because of something I've done. Somebody won't have to say goodbye to their loved one. It may be a small mark in history, one that may never be passed down, but I don't think that glory is all that important."

Naruto sat in silence, a bit ashamed at his previous words. Summer turned to him again, and smiled once more.

"So, that's why I do what I do," she told him, grabbing his hands into hers. "Although you never really asked… but that's not really the point." She scratched her head, and began to wonder. "Actually, I don't know where I was going with that… Heh, I'm sorry, I'm not really that great at talking to new people…"

"You're fine," he told her, now calm.

"Thanks," she smiled shyly. "I guess old habits die hard… Say, my team and I were going to grab some breakfast, do you want to come? We found this diner that is really good, and I think they like us." Naruto looked down to the bedsheets, and sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you being nice to me?" he asked suddenly. "I mean, there are other kids out there, what makes me special?"

"I try to be nice to everybody," shrugged Summer. "I'm not saying that you aren't special, but, well… I don't know, there is something about you…"

"Oh," he replied simply. "Thanks, I guess."

"I'm so bad at using words," she muttered to herself. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I can't really _explain_ my feelings sometimes… but they've never lead me astray before."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"Well, what Ozpin told me once was that I tend to follow my heart," she recalled. "That, even if there is a difficult choice to make, if I trust my feelings, I'll always make the right choice. Helping people has always made me feel good, so I decided to become a Huntress." Summer noticed the pensive look on Naruto's face, and her smile faltered. "Naruto… what's the matter?"

"…" Naruto remained silent for a while, weighing the consequences of his next words. If he sought comfort from this woman, would he be trying to replace Viola? Would talking about his best friend to this borderline stranger make him feel any better? Naruto just stared, his mind continuously asking him questions he didn't want to answer. Should he ask her what his nightmare meant? Nothing seemed to be the right answer as so he just remained silent. He found it difficult to mask his sadness with the wide grin he thought he perfected. After a few minutes, he took in a deep breath. "Summer?"

"Yes?"

"There is a lot about me you don't know…" he began quietly, "some things, I rather you not know."

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," she tried to assure, "but you can tell me anything you want."

"I don't know where to start," he sighed. Summer sat next to him patiently, doing her best to be a good listener. Naruto looked up to her, and smiled sadly. "Actually, I think I have an idea… You remind me a lot of my best friend." It didn't take long for his story to unravel.

* * *

"So I tell you I have a thing for your sister, and a week later, you're sleeping with Summer?!" Tai asked accusingly. Qrow just sighed deeply, knowing that there was no way to explain what happened to his teammate AND have him believe it.

"I didn't sleep with Summer," he replied shortly, rolling his eyes.

"I saw her coming out of your room this morning," he whispered, getting too close for comfort. " _Without_ her cloak. You know as well as I do she doesn't go _anywhere_ without it."

"She didn't have it on when she came in," replied Qrow, only to see his response fueled Tai's rant.

"Sweet, innocent Summer," Tai gasped dramatically. "To think she would go in there not only willing, but… _prepared."_

"First off, Summer only came to my room because she gave her bed to the kid," sighed Qrow. "Second, she left her hood with Naruto, because she had used it to keep him warm on the way back to the inn. Thirdly, Summer is the same age as us, she's not any less or more innocent than you or I, and finally, _even_ _if_ something went on in there, why do you care?"

"You know exactly why I care," Tai replied, giving him a pointed stare. "You didn't exactly have the best reputation with the ladies back in Beacon. You broke every girl's heart, so excuse me for looking out for my friend!"

"Like you're one to talk," bit back Qrow. "I might have had to turn a few girls down, but you're the one who jumped from one relationship to another within the span of a week! You don't think that's why Raven doesn't take you seriously?" Tai visibly flinched at his remark.

"I told you things were different with her," mumbled Tai. "I know what she probably thinks of me, but that's why I'm trying so hard to make this work!" Qrow regretted his outburst, as he did see Tai's attempt to change.

"I'm sorry Tai," muttered Qrow, unsure how else to move on.

"It's cool," shrugged Tai. "I guess I shouldn't have made such a big deal about Summer and you…" He began to stretch his arms, feeling a satisfying pop.

"That's disgusting," Qrow said with a shudder.

"You have always been the queasy one between us," smirked Raven, arriving from her room. She was already dressed in her combat gear, despite knowing Summer had not planned another patrol today.

"Bite me," he retorted. Tai just laughed awkwardly, as he took a seat near Qrow.

"Anyway, did Summer tell you guys what we're doing today?" asked Tai.

"She just said she wanted to make sure the kid was alright. She's under the impression the teenager who wiped out a horde of Grimm is fragile and helpless," shrugged Qrow.

"Honestly, Summer needs to grow up," scoffed Raven, earning a glare from her brother. "You know it's true."

"I'm not even going to start with you," Qrow replied, a bit annoyed.

"Well, if something comes up, Qrow can let us know, right buddy?" asked Tai, trying to diffuse the conflict. "Come on Rae, I heard from this merchant that the little bakery in the plaza has the best pot-pie in town."

Raven continued to glare at her brother, and simply grunted in agreement with Tai. The blond was a bit taken aback, but didn't miss a step, and led her away. He shot Qrow a thankful look before departing.

"That is not going to end well," he sighed under his breath. He took a look at his scroll to see it was barely noon. 'I really shouldn't…' he thought to himself. He looked around for a sign that was telling him to stop, and was thankful when he saw Summer and Naruto coming out of the room. He stood up to greet them, but he noticed the strange look on Summer's face, and that Naruto was staring at the floor. "You two have a fight or something?"

"Huh? Oh, no nothing like that," Summer replied with a forced smile. She was obviously distracted by something. Qrow then looked over to Naruto, who met him with an uneasy gaze.

"It's nothing," he told the older huntsman.

"Well, usually it's Raven who's doom and gloom," he tried to joke. Unfortunately neither laughed. He knew better than to pry while Naruto was still there, but not knowing was bothering him too much. "So either of you going to tell me what happened in there?"

"It's complicated," replied Naruto, grabbing his forehead as if he was nursing a headache.

"It's… personal," added Summer, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. She looked down to him, but he didn't return the stare. "Qrow… I think I'm going to go for a walk… I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"R-right, of course," answered the confused man. Summer walked out, and let the two alone. "So, um, kid… what's up?"

"I think I'm leaving," he replied suddenly.

"Where to?" asked Qrow. He was hoping he'd answer why, but didn't want to force any information out of him.

"I… I don't know," he sighed. "I just… I can't take being in this village anymore. I've thought about it, and I asked Summer where Faunus can live peacefully, but she didn't really have a answer."

"I see… She didn't mention Menagerie?"

"Yea, she did. The thing is it would take me months to get there. I don't have enough supplies to last a week, let alone take me to the southernmost part of the Kingdoms. That's _if_ they let me in… Summer says that Faunus there have not taken kindly to humans who stuck them in a desert of an island."

"That's putting it lightly…" sighed Qrow. "What do you mean, _if_ they take you… are you not a Faunus?"

"No," he replied simply.

"So the whiskers…?"

"Birthmarks."

"Ah, I see…" There was an awkward silence that followed, as the two stood there uncomfortably. "So… you're human then?"

"I think so," he replied hesitantly. "I mean I know I am, but, there are certain parts that aren't… I would really rather not get into it."

"So if you aren't going to Menagerie, where do you plan on moving next? If it's on the way, you can come with us when we leave to Vale."

"I think I'm just going to head south. That way I'll be closer to Menagerie, even if it is only a few weeks."

"Listen, Summer is the one who is usually good at cheering people up," groaned Qrow. "I just kill Grimm and look good doing it. Tai is the social one, and Raven is… well, you've met her."

"She's your sister, right?" asked Naruto. Qrow nodded, albeit confused. "What does she mean when she says she's interested in you?"

"Did she say that to you?" he asked. Naruto nodded, still waiting an answer. "It just means you've impressed her with your skills. There really isn't any sentiment attached to it. She said the same to Tai and Summer a few weeks after we formed teams. When did she say this to you?"

"Last night," he recalled. "She was waiting where I sleep before the Grimm attack, and just starting saying weird things."

"Such as?"

"She said that I looked like I had an interesting story," he responded, remembering that night. "That I had the same look in my eye as people she knew growing up… some people that might be considered evil. What did she mean by that?"

"Nothing good," sighed Qrow. "You see, Raven and I… we didn't exactly grow up normal, and one of the things you pick up along the way is recognizing other people who didn't either. Raven tends to look too far into it though."

"She's not wrong," admitted Naruto. "I can only think of one person who grew up like I did… and he became a monster." Qrow listened intently, hoping to take a peek into the blond enigma. "He grew up just like I did, with no friends, with hateful stares from strangers, and even had assassination attempts carried out against him. It's a scary reminder, that if I didn't keep trying, I could have become what he did… I was one bad day from becoming a demon."

"You're wrong!" the two heard Summer cry out from the door way. "Naruto, don't say that!"

"It's true!" shouted Naruto back. "I didn't tell you everything, but I was less than one step from becoming the monster they saw me as!"

"I feel like I'm missing something," Qrow mumbled to himself. Naruto and Summer continued to bicker.

"That's not true!" insisted Summer, visibly struggling to keep herself together. "I refuse to believe it!" Naruto gave up, and just walked out of the inn, leaving the two partners alone.

"So are you going to explain what's going on?" asked Qrow.

"I don't know where to begin," she whispered, sitting in the nearest stool. "He's suffered so much…"

* * *

Naruto had made it to the town square, and felt the various glares he got from the villagers. He didn't care that they were upset at his violent and loud demeanor, he just wanted them to stop looking at him.

"What are you looking at?!" he shouted at the villagers, unaware that his eyes had turned into a burning red. "You want to say something?! SAY IT!"

The townsfolk just turned away, a bit frightened at the tone of the young teen. Naruto's breathing had become erratic, and he was shaking in anger.

"None of you have a clue," he whispered to himself. "You have no idea what I've been through…"His muscles began to twitch, and vaguely became aware of his darkening vision.

He then remembered those days in Konoha.

-Ten Years Prior-

Naruto, now five, ran down the streets, desperately trying to evade those who wanted him dead. He didn't understand why he was disliked so much, and had tried to make people like him with something that made him happy. This backfired epically. He had been caught red-handed with some paint and rope where he had tried to paint a mural of the four Hokage; the shinobis he looked up to. Instead, several villagers thought he was attempting to deface their property. Although they weren't wrong they didn't see Naruto's intention, and Naruto didn't know any better, and now found himself running for his life.

"I didn't mean it!" he cried, tears flowing down his face. "I just want you all to like me!"

"We could never like a demon like you!" shouted a woman holding a large kitchen knife.

"I'm not a demon," he wailed, as he found himself cornered in an alley. This particular alley used to be clear, but it appears that it was now blocked with tall stacks of boxes. He turned and pressed his back into it, wide-eyed at the menacing villagers.

"Of course you are," said a seething man. "You're the reason my little girl was taken away from me! You are nothing more than a monster who only knows to cause pain!"

"I've never hurt any of you," he denied. He raised his hands to defend himself from the approaching villagers, only to feel a burning sensation all over his body. "AH, STOP IT!"

"What's going on?" asked another woman, as the mob looked on at the boy screeching in pain.

"I don't know, but shut him up!" ordered an elderly man. "If he keeps making this racket, the Anbu will show up!" One of the younger men grabbed the small boy and punched all the air out of his lungs. As the boy fell to the ground, small amounts of blood dripped from his mouth.

"W-why are you doing this?" asked Naruto, gritting his teeth in pain. The burning sensation had not lessened, but he found he couldn't stop it. The woman with the kitchen knife began to get closer, a wicked smile marring her face.

"You killed my husband," she said maniacally, as she brought the knife to this stomach. "Now I will avenge him, Demon." Naruto felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and looked down to see strange black marks appear before he blacked out from the pain. The woman began to laugh, as if all her problems were finally over, when the boy's head snapped up, eyes a burning crimson, and his facial features much more feral. "W-what are you?" she asked horrified.

" **It's simple, really,"** the distorted voice replied. **"You've called me a demon, so…"**

-End Flashback-

" **A Demon you wish me, a Demon I'll be,"** he cackled, as red began to envelop his body.

* * *

"So, what I'm trying to say is, I really like you," slurred Tai, looking at his partner. "I mean, I _like_ like you."

"You realize you sound like a ten year old, right?" asked Raven, her voice full of snark.

"I know!" he replied embarrassed, although his face was already red from being drunk, "I'm not used to not knowing what to say. You're the only one who does this to me, woman!" Raven just smirked at him, and Tai calmed himself down. "Alright, whatever, it's out there. So you want to go out some time, or not?"

"Sure, why not?" she shrugged. She figured that it might piss Qrow off, but if she was being honest with herself, Tai was one of the few people that she knew could handle her. Most others would run scared, but Tai wasn't easily intimidated.

"Come on! Give me one chance," he began. "I know it seems a little weird, but- wait you said yes?" Raven cocked an eyebrow, and gave a slight nod. "FUCK YES!" he cheered, pumping his fist into the air. Just as he did, a cart full of vegetables came crashing through the ceiling and landed in front of the two Huntsmen.

"My cabbages!" cried an old man.

"Did… did I do that?" asked Tai, looking at his fist. He lowered it, and did a second fist pump, and a second cart came crashing down, landing on somebody.

"My leg!" cried another man.

"What kind of godly power is this?" asked Tai, only for Raven to roll her eyes.

"There is something going on outside," she sighed, wondering if she should take back the agreement to the date. She drew her sword, and Tai followed suit, and they left the bakery. Once they arrived outside, they saw something very strange. It was a fox-like Grimm, but it had no bony armor and it was a dark crimson. Behind it waved four tails.

"What the hell kind of Grimm is that?" asked Tai, getting ready to fight.

"It's unlike anything we've seen before," replied Raven seriously. "Tai, call Summer and Qrow. We're probably going to need back up." Tai immediately got his scroll out to call. Very rarely did Raven admit to needing backup, and never had she asked for it before the fight had begun.

" **RRAAHH!"** the beast shouted, sending a shockwave of sound that nearly took the two Huntsman off their feet.

"It's the same thing from last night!" realized Tai. "It must have escaped before we got there." The fox rushed towards Raven, who was the closer one of the two, and swiped its arm wildly. Raven raised her sword to block, but the power behind the beast was much more than she expected, and was flung across the town square. "RAVEN!" Tai sprang into action, and ran toward the distracted fox, getting a clear shot to its face.

"Eat this!" shouted Tai, landing a solid punch, only for it to be stopped dead in its track. From how little it moved, he expected that the fox had caught his fist, but the creature hadn't bothered blocking. Turning its head slowly, the fox grabbed Tai by the skull and flung him the opposite direction Raven flew. Crashing through the few remaining stalls, Tai landed in a heap, his Aura depleting fast.

"TAI!" he heard Summer shout. The red Grimm looked over to the white hooded Huntress, and cocked its head to the side. "You…You MONSTER!" she screamed, twirling her battle-ax as she closed the distance between the two. Using both hands, she brought the ax down in an overhead swing, only for the fox to catch her wrists with two of its tails. She began to feel the burning sensation of the strange red substance, and tried to break free. Before long, the tips of the tails were severed by Qrow.

"Are you alright?" he asked his partner. She nodded, but her wrist were clearly burned. "What is that thing? Grimm don't have Aura, but that red stuff… it's acting like some sort of shield." Soon, Tai and Raven made it to their side, a bit battered, but still capable of fighting.

"What's the plan, Rose?" asked Raven.

"We have to lead it out of the village," she replied. "After that, we can move the fight away, so other Grimm don't arrive. Once we have it in a clearing, I'll strike it down."

"You don't mean-" began Tai.

"If it comes to it, then yes!" she replied firmly. "Now MOVE!" Without hesitation, team STRQ split up and surrounded the Fox Grimm. They kept a fair distance, but Qrow began to bait him by shooting at it with his sword. The Grimm didn't seem bothered, as the projectiles just bounced off its red hide harmlessly

"How are we going to do this?" asked Tai, seeing how little Qrow was distracting it. Raven switched her sword into a blue blade. With a mighty swing, a wave of lighting shot out, and hit the Grimm, causing him to roar. Raven smirked, and turned to give chase. With the red Grimm on her tail, she fled the village, and team STRQ followed closely behind.

Once they were at least five miles from the village, Raven came to a halt, and switched to a black blade, and slashed at the fox once more. It tried to jump over, but Tai was above it, and ax kicked it right back down into the trajectory of the black wave.

"Did it work?" asked Qrow, seeing that his sister had used her gravity blade.

"There's only one way to find out," Summer replied solemnly. She motioned for her team to stay back, as she approached to plume of dust that had been kicked up from the impact of the fox. As she got closer to the crater, the dust was all waved away, the four tailed fox on all fours, seemingly unharmed.

"What the hell…" whispered Tai. He had seen Raven's gravity blade take down a group of Deathstalkers, but this one wasn't fazed. The fox's white eyes turned to Raven, and let out a frightening roar. For the first time Raven could remember, she was petrified. The amount of animosity she felt radiating from the beast had made her blood run cold. The fear of what it would do to her had made her heart stop, and her eyes widened as the beast created a strange orb in front of its mouth. It's four tails pointed at it, as it began to grow bigger.

"MOVE" shouted Tai, as he jumped in front of the fox, and began to unleash a flurry of punches and kicks that did nothing but annoy the fox. With a single tail, it flicked the brawler away. Qrow and Summer jumped into the fray, having gotten used to each other's fighting style over the years of being partners. As Qrow slashed, Summer hacked, and the tails of chakra seemed to be taking some sort of damage. They both jumped back as the fox swiped it's arm at them ,and felt their stomachs drop when the tails began to reform.

"That thing… is unreal," Qrow said panting. Summer was a bit better off, as she stood straight, her expression not daunted.

"I won't let you hurt my friends," she uttered under her breath, as she felt anger begin to rise.

"Summer, stop!" shouted Qrow, recognizing the tone she was using. Summer shot him a glare and he knew it was too late. She had tears streaming down her face, and her eyes began to glow white. Before either had a chance to say anything, the fox roared again. They looked over, and saw the beast eat the strange ball it had created.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tai said, his stomach forming a knot. He was helping Raven stand, as she was still out of it.

"TAI GET OUT OF THERE!" shouted Summer, as she ran towards the red beast. Tai nodded, and tried to get out of the way as soon as possible, only to hear a terrifying sound of destruction from behind him. Summer had jumped in front of the two, holding her arms out in a desperate attempt to shield them from the attack, but no harm befell any of them.

"What happened?" asked Tai, looking over to his team. Qrow was still leaning on his sword, and Summer was still standing in front of him with her eyes shut. Raven uttered something under her breath, but he didn't catch it. Summer opened an eye to see what had happened, and was confused to see the fox seemingly growling to itself. If the beast had lips, Summer might be able to make out words, which frightened her. Was this monster intelligent?

" **Kill…"** the fox uttered. It didn't speak loud, but it was heard by all. " **I… will kill… them all."**

"What are you?" asked Qrow, struggling to stand without assistance from his weapon. The fox turned it's gaze at the man, and began to chuckle. It's hollow gaze was still eerie, but he refused to look away.

" **I'm the only one who can save him,"** the fox replied, no longer struggling to form words. The tails stopped waving angrily around him, and settled to gently moving with the breeze. **"But he has a desire to save you… Team STRQ. Interesting…"**

"How do you know who we are?" asked Tai, a feeling of dread washing over him. The four got into their battle formation, standing side by side. The fox, although his face was still masked by the blood red cloak, visibly smiled.

" **Are all blonds this dense?"** he asked himself amused. Before Tai could take offense to that, the fox's red cloak began to dissipate. Team STRQ looked on as the creature collapsed, and the feeling of death in the air was gone.

"What's going on?" asked Qrow, completely confused. The rest of the team remained silent, their weapons drawn just in case. The four slowly made their way over, and were completely caught off guard.

"Holy shit," said Tai, being the only one to find his voice. Naruto laid in front of them, patches of skin missing from his face. His teeth were visible from the sides, and his hands were nearly stripped to the bone. Weakly, he pushed himself up to face them, and uttered one sentence.

"I told you… I'm… a… monster." He then collapsed, lying face-first in the dirt.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

Three of the members of team STRQ sat quietly around a campfire unsure of what to do. The first thing Summer did was pick the boy up and rushed him back into the village, desperate to save him. Unfortunately, they had all refused to treat him, and demanded that the team leave their village along with the 'demon brat'. She had not left his side since. Raven wanted to end his misery there, as she was unsure when she would get another chance to do so. The feeling of pure fear that the fox had instilled in her was unreal, and did not plan on experiencing it again. Tai was conflicted, as he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that a fifteen year old had been possessed by something much scarier than a creature of Grimm. Qrow found himself wondering what they _could_ do. The kid was already a great fighter, and given that he can make a virtual limitless supply of clones, he was essentially a one man army. As if that wasn't enough, there was… _something_ in him that harbored hatred, and wanted everything dead; or at least from what he understood. Apparently Naruto's desire to spare his team had somehow gotten through to his second personality…

"It's almost as if the two were aware of each other," he realized. "Like… they share the same body, but only one controls it at a time…"

"What was that?" asked Tai, looking over to his teammate.

"It's nothing," relied Qrow, "just speculating…" Tai nodded, and went back to his own thoughts.

"He's a danger to us all," Raven stated, breaking her silence. "Summer shouldn't have brought him back to the village. With the fear he put in them, it's only a matter of time before they get swarmed by Grimm."

"It doesn't matter, we'll still protect them," replied Qrow. "It's our job to help them, not to be their friends." The two siblings glared at each other for a moment, but Summer exited her tent. "How is he?"

"He's… alive," she replied. "He hasn't woken up, but he's muttering something in his sleep." Summer looked over to her team, and sighed. "I don't know what we can do to help him, but he's suffering."

"He wasn't our responsibility until he attack those villagers," Raven said evenly. "Now he's a threat, and we have to take care of that."

"He's not," insisted Summer, raising her voice against her cynical teammate. Tai and Qrow were surprised to see how strongly their leader felt about this. "I can figure something out, and I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for-"

"Wake up, Rose!" Raven interrupted. "That kid nearly killed not only some weak civilians, but a team of Huntsmen! What could you possibly do alone that we couldn't have done together? He's a danger to those around him, and himself! Just because he's a kid, it doesn't excuse his actions!"

"Raven," Qrow began, stepping in front of Summer. "We have done similar things before, and Summer forgave us. Isn't it a bit hypocritical of you to deny that same treatment?"

"I'm sure we can all figure something out," Tai tried to placate, but the two women continued to glare at each other.

"If these are you orders, Rose, consider this our last mission together," Raven uttered out. Her three teammates' eyes widened at her proclamation.

"Fine," Summer replied evenly. "If that's how you feel, I won't force you to stick around." Qrow and Tai each walked up to their partner, and tried to talk some sense into them.

"Summer, I know you don't mean that," began Qrow. "Once the kid wakes up, we can talk this through, but there is no sense in trying to fight over his future when we have no place in deciding that for him."

"Qrow, I know she's your sister, but this team was bound to break up sooner or later…" replied Summer. "Back at Beacon, we were getting to know each other so we let a lot of things slide… but that was years ago, and if we keep finding ourselves bickering like this, we'll only end up resenting each other…"

"Why don't we just finish our time here, and we'll discuss this all back in Vale, once this blows over a bit?" suggested Qrow. "Go keep watch over the kid… I'll go find us something to eat, alright?"

"Alright…" agreed Summer. She turned back to her tent, but didn't step forward. "Qrow?" she asked, not turning to face him.

"Yea?"

"You're a good friend," she said. "I hope we don't grow apart." The man smiled.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Summer. Get some rest."

* * *

"All I'm saying is that he's just a kid," continued Tai. "I mean I do stupid things all the time, and you don't hate me for it, right?"

"This is different, Tai," growled Raven. "Didn't you feel the atmosphere when we faced him? I could feel a hundred different ways to die from standing ten feet from the monster. Even when that _thing_ isn't in control, the brat still attacked us in that alley! How can you keep defending this kid?" If Tai wasn't trying to keep the woman from leaving the team, he might have noticed the fear in her voice when she spoke of the creature.

"He doesn't know better," he replied. "I know it's a flimsy excuse, but from what Qrow's said, he didn't exactly have role models growing up, and he's recently lost the one person who helped him out. This kid was trained by Roy Arc, of course he's going to be a bit violent; he was taught by someobody who fought in the Great War!" Raven narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't speak.

"You know, you aren't as stupid as I often think you are," she replied, walking towards her tent. Tai smiled a bit, before registering what she said.

"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?" he asked, following her. Once she arrived at her tent, he stopped, as the flaps closed behind her. "No need to slam the door in my face," he mumbled. He turned back to Qrow, who was walking towards the campfire. "Any luck with you?"

"Sort of," replied the scythe wielder.

"Same," Tai answered back. After a few moments of silence, he decided to break it. "Women, am I right?"

"Right," he replied noncommittally. "I'm going to find us something to eat, you mind fetching some firewood?"

"Sure," agreed Tai, hopping to his feet.

"Right, thanks, Tai."

* * *

Summer's Tent

* * *

"You didn't mean to do that, did you, Naruto?" asked Summer, tracing her fingers on his arm. "There's no way you hurt those people on purpose… You're not a monster…"

The boy stirred a bit, but remained unconscious.

"How can I help you?" she asked, hoping he'd wake up. "From what I've seen, you try to take on everything on your own… it's like you don't know how to ask for help… and that thing… what is that? It looked like it was controlling you, but it still listened to you not wanting to hurt us! I'm so confused, please wake up!" The boy remained unresponsive.

* * *

Naruto's Mindscape

* * *

"Why did you attack those villagers?" Naruto asked angrily. "They already hated me enough, now they'll never let me back!"

" **Good, then maybe you'll stop wasting your life in a this worthless place,"** the fox growled back. **"I don't know how you can stand to live such a dull life. Even if those black creatures are barely a work out, it beats standing around some no-name town trying to blend in with ants."**

"What I do with my life is none of your business!"

" **It's always been my business!"** the fox roared. **"I could have let you die countless times, but each time, it was me who healed you when you were on the verge of death. I was the one who took over when you lost the will to fight, so tell me again your life is none of my business!"** Naruto flinched at the tone of the Kyuubi. Aside from his unsuppressed rage, there was a hint of something else he couldn't place. **"Kit, I've taken care of you your entire life, and you still have the nerve to reject my help."**

"Why do you keep doing it?" asked Naruto quietly. "If you really can reform after I die, what did you have to gain by keeping me alive?" The fox lowered his head to make Naruto level to his glare.

" **I don't have to explain myself to you, brat,"** he growled, although the hostility was clearly gone. Naruto wanted an answer, but he felt himself waking up.

"No, Kyuubi, tell me why!" he shouted, as he began to fade.

* * *

Summer's Tent

* * *

"Naruto?" Summer called out in surprise, as the blond awoke, coughing. "Do you want some water? Are you alright?"

"W-what?" asked the teen. "Where am I?" He tried to stand, but the cool breeze made his patches of missing flesh begin to burn. He began to hiss in pain, and felt two hands push him back down gently. "Summer? Why are you here?"

"Because I'm worried about you, you dummy!" she tried scolding, but the relief in her voice was too apparent. "You gave me a scare there… Please, don't ever do that again, I can't bear to see you like that."

"You… you aren't mad?" he asked in surprise. He remembered the bits and pieces of the fight, and recalled nearly obliterating her and her team. "I… I almost killed you."

"Naruto, whatever was controlling you told us you didn't want to hurt us. Even if it did, you somehow got it to stop," she replied, wiping her eyes as tears began to form. "We can talk about that later, I'm just glad you're alright."

"Why?" asked the whiskered teen. "Who am I to you for you to care so much? You found me in an alley, and I attacked you!"

"It was just a misunderstanding," she insisted. "Just like this was, right? You didn't mean to hurt those people in the village, did you?"

"Of course not," Naruto replied, sitting back up. He ignored the pain that told him to lie back down, and ran his hand through his hair. "It's just… my hatred snuck up on me…"

"Everybody gets mad every now and then," she offered, but Raven came in through the tent.

"Not everybody's temper tantrum causes massive property damage, and injures innocent people," she said coldly. Summer stood between her teammate and the injured teen.

"What do you want, Raven?" asked Summer, uncharacteristically angry.

"I want answers," she replied, locking eyes with her leader. "Are you going to stop me, Rose?"

"Don't," interrupted Naruto. "She has a right to know, Summer…"

"Naruto, you're not well," Summer tried to argue.

"I'm not planning on fighting her!" he scoffed. "Don't baby me."

"Right… sorry," apologized Summer, as she shrank away from the teen. The two teammates looked at the blond, one with a critical expression, and the other with concern.

"What was that?" asked Raven bluntly. "Where the hell did you get that strange power?"

"I've been stuck with it since the day I was born," answered Naruto. "I didn't choose to have it, just like it didn't choose to be sealed in me."

"You're saying that… _thing,_ is its own entity? You aren't just crazy?"

"I wish I was," Naruto said remorsefully. "It would be much easier to deal with… But yes, the Kyuubi is his own being… It was just… sealed away in me. It's a complicated situation, and I'm not sure if I understand it…"

"How did it come out?" asked Summer. "that last thing I remember was you storming off, and a few minutes later, I get a call from Tai saying he needed backup."

"The fox takes over when I give in to my negative emotions," explained Naruto. "Usually it was anger, but… today in the village, it brought up bad memories…"

"What are the chances of it happening again?" asked Raven, eyeing the teen as he fidgeted.

"It's pretty likely, if my life keeps going the way it is," he admitted.

"What does that mean?" Summer wondered.

"I'm surrounded by people who hate me, every day," sighed Naruto. "It's been that way my entire life… well, most of my life. Last year, I met somebody who I thought could change all that…"

"Roy?" asked Summer. Naruto shook his head.

"No, I met him after," he sighed. "It was… somebody else. But after the Grimm attack…I lost her…"

"Oh… I'm so sorry…" the silver-eyed woman squeaked out. It explained a quite a bit about his behavior, especially his hesitance to her concern.

"How do we know you didn't kill her?" asked Raven. Summer looked at her teammate, shocked at her implication, but Naruto spoke up before she could.

"I didn't," he growled, his eyes flaring up, and his canines elongating. "I could never hurt her!"

"Naruto, calm down," urged Summer. Raven saw how drastically his demeanor changed from one second to the next. It would appear to her that it would forever remain a sore subject for him. Instead of riling the teen up further, she just left the tent, trying to keep her breathing steady as she did so. Naruto glared at her until she was gone, then began a coughing fit. Apparently he did sustain some internal damage from that battle with team STRQ.

"Where is my bag?" Naruto asked suddenly. He looked around the tent, and panic began to set in.

"You didn't have it on you," she said confused, but Naruto simply became more desperate. He stood up, wincing as he felt a burning sensation all over his body, but began to walk out of the small campsite. It was then that he realized it was already nightfall. "Naruto, where are you going? You're going to get hurt!"

"I don't care!" he hissed, as his limping began to get worse. Summer wanted to follow him, but the edge in her voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Whoa, when did you get out of bed?" asked Qrow, as he arrived with a sack of dead forest creatures. He took in his state of dress ,as well as his awkward walk, and tried to slow him down. "Hey, kid, you shouldn't be walking around in that condition."

"Out of my way, Qrow," growled Naruto. Qrow was not intimidated by the blond, but the look in his eye spoke volumes of what he was feeling. He took a step to the side, and allowed the blond to pass.

"I hope whatever it is your doing is worth it, kid," he said to him. "It looks like you're going to keel over any second…" Naruto continued to press on, making Qrow sigh with annoyance. "Goddamnit." He dropped the dinner he snagged, and ran over to the teenage ninja. "Come on, let me help you." He grabbed Naruto's arm and helped him walk straight, much to the blond's annoyance.

"I don't need help," he said unconvincingly.

"Well you're getting it anyway," Qrow replied evenly. "If I left you to walk off in these woods alone, Summer would never let me hear the end of it."

"Do you always do whatever it takes to make her happy?" asked Naruto, although his attitude was gone.

"If I can, then yes," replied Qrow easily.

"Do you ever regret it?" he asked, thinking of Viola. Images of her smile flashed through his head, and he felt a pang in his heart.

"Can't say I have. I've known her for a long time, and she's a good person. She has big dreams, kid, and I know if she's ever going to make them come true, she'll need all the help she can get."

"What dreams does she have?" asked Naruto, as the two approached the village gates.

"She wants a world where she can start a family," he replied. "One where she doesn't have to worry about the Creatures of Grimm, or humanity trying to kill themselves… If it were anybody else, I'd say they were crazy… but I think Summer can do it." Naruto remained silent, as the two came in through the gates. "Why are we here exactly? After yesterday, we aren't exactly welcomed anymore."

"I just want my stuff," replied Naruto, as he pointed to where his old shed was. The two blended in easily to the night, and didn't arouse any suspicion. Once they arrived, Naruto began to rummage through the junk, and was relieved when he found the bag untouched.

"That bag mean a lot to you?" asked Qrow.

"The bag not so much," he admitted. He reached in it and took out the plain wine bottle, causing Qrow to raise a brow.

"I though Tai was a party animal… aren't you like fifteen?"

"It's not the fact that it's wine," scoffed Naruto, before looking at the bottle fondly. "It belonged to a friend… it's something I'll treasure as long as I live." Qrow nodded in understanding, and helped the teen limp back to their campsite. It took them much longer than it did to get to the village, as Naruto was no longer in a panicked state.

"You're back!" Summer nearly cried, running to the two and hugging them tightly. She looked over to Qrow, who was looking away a bit nervously. "Thank you, Qrow… you brought him back safe."

"It was nothing," he shrugged, as he helped the teen sit on a log. "He just wanted his purse, is all."

"Haha, very funny," Naruto replied, rolling his eyes. He looked over to the silver-eyed woman, and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she assured. "Just don't do that again, alright? You're still hurt, and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you got injured further."

"He's a tough kid, Summer, cut him some slack," Qrow replied. "He's fought Goliaths, Beringels, and our team. He can take care of himself."

"I know," she sighed in defeat, "But he's so young… I can't help but worry about him." Qrow was about to argue that they had begun training at a much younger age, but he knew it didn't matter. Summer was a caring person through and through, and using his age was just an excuse. If Naruto was in his mid-thirties, she would likely still be concerned for him.

"So, what is your plan now?" asked Tai, who had been sitting silently on the other side of the campfire. "I thought you were going to live there, but… you know, you kind of almost killed them."

"Tai!" chided Summer.

"He's right," interrupted Naruto, "and I don't know what's next," he admitted. "Maybe once I'm healed up, I'll head south. If everybody is going to mistake me for a Faunus, I might as well learn to live with them."

"They're normal people, Naruto," said Summer. "Some people just don't see eye to eye with them. I knew few Faunus back in our Beacon days, and they were nice people."

"I hope so," he said tiredly. "You know, I'm still a bit sore from… well, you know… I'm going to turn in early." Naruto returned to Summer's tent as the three watched him.

"That poor kid," sighed Qrow. "With how badly he's injured, he'll probably be sticking around for weeks."

"How does something like this happen?" asked Tai. "I mean, the kid is not even old enough to go to Beacon, but he has enough power to wipe out a hundred Grimm on a whim!"

"I don't know, Tai, I just don't want him to be alone anymore…" sighed Summer.

"What do you think Raven is going to think of this?" asked Tai.

"She'll come around," replied Qrow. "If there is one thing that she admires, it's strength… and that little bastard is overflowing with it."

"I hope you're right," Summer whispered. As much as the two argued, Summer still cared about Raven just as much as she did Tai and Qrow, she just had a harder time showing it.

"We should rest up," suggested Qrow. "I'll take first watch."

* * *

As the day began, Tai had begun to cook some of the rabbits on the campfire. Aside from having the biggest appetite in the group, he knew they would all need their energy up if anything like the last few days were to happen again. He heard somebody exit their tent, and immediately offered some food.

"Come get them, while they're still hot," he grinned, turning.

"Thanks," replied Naruto, taking a seat across him.

"Whoa, what the hell?" exclaimed Tai. "How did you..? When did…? Dude!"

"What?" asked Naruto, taking a bite. "You offered."

"No, not that! Your injuries, they're gone!" he shouted, pointing at him. Naruto looked down at himself and shrugged.

"What's all the racket?" asked Qrow, peering from his tent. If there was one thing Qrow hated more than Grimm, it was mornings. "Goddamnit Tai, did you bite your finger again? How many times are we going to go through this? Just use a fork!"

"No! It's the kid, he's all better now," explained Tai, a bit more controlled.

"Well, would you look at that," he commented idly. "I'm going back to sleep." Tai stared at his teammate, as his eye twitched. How was he not as shocked as he was?

"I tend to heal quickly," Naruto explained, once it quieted down. "I've had this ability all my life."

"That's one hell of a blessing," said Tai. "Can you regrow limbs?"

"I don't know," Naruto said uneasily, as he backed up a bit. "I've never had that happen to me before."

"You wanna find out?" offered Tai, lifting up a steak knife.

"Hell no!" shouted Naruto, stumbling backwards. "How'd you like it if I cut something of yours off?"

"What is going on out here?" asked Summer. "What's this talk about cutting things off?"

"Tai wants to cut me," Naruto accused, pointing at the other blond. Summer immediately noticed Naruto's drastically better condition, and laughed at his current behavior. She'd have to make sure to ask at another time.

"You little snitch," cursed Tai. "I offered, I never said I was going to do it!" He quickly discarded the knife back into his bag.

"You saw that?" asked Naruto, "he totally just tried to hide it."

"Can you two calm down," Summer said with a laugh. "Honestly, you two are so much alike."

"We're nothing alike!" the two shouted. Summer just giggled, as the two glared at each other.

"Are you two done? We have a lot to do today," said Summer.

"What are we doing?" asked Tai. "Aren't we just on patrol?"

"I talked to Ozpin last night," she explained. "Apparently there has been a lot of Grimm activity west of here. It could take us weeks to get there, depending on weather, but he wants us to check it out."

"Sounds great," agreed Tai, "but what about the village?"

"Professor Ozpin said they shouldn't be in danger anymore," she answered. "They should be fine." Tai shrugged, and went to get Raven, as Naruto began to clean up the campsite. A few minutes later, Qrow came back out, and looked ready to go. Raven glared at Naruto, but didn't speak to him, nor did she acknowledge her brother. She and Tai stayed further back as they walked, Summer leading the way. Naruto seemed to be distracted, so Qrow walked over to Summer.

"You didn't really talk to Ozpin last night, did you?" he whispered. Summer remained silent. The slight movement under her hood was all the confirmation he needed. "Where are we really going?"

"We're going back to Vale," she sighed. "I figured that Naruto might get mad at me for lying to him, but at least this way he can take an airship to Menagerie, instead of walking there. I want to show him that the kingdoms aren't as bad as these small villages."

"Good luck explaining that to him," sighed Qrow, falling behind his leader. While he could respect her wishes, she was never a good liar, and chances were that the truth would come out long before they arrived in Vale. Once he was next to the ninja, he tried striking up a conversation. "So, what else is in that bag of yours?"

"Huh?" asked Naruto at the sudden question. He looked down to it, and shrugged. "Just some personal things…"

"Do they all have a story?"

"Not ones I want to share," he replied. "They aren't exactly… positive. Can we leave it at that?"

"Of course, I didn't mean to pry," said Qrow. He put his hands behind his head as they continued to walk, stretching a bit.

"Hey, Qrow…" began Naruto quietly. "Why did you become a Huntsman?"

"Why? Well, Raven and I grew up in some pretty rough places, and we were forced to do some things I'm not proud of just to survive. We stole, we extorted from people, and on some occasions, we even witnessed a few murders. We didn't want to live that life anymore, so we put our heads together and began to think of ways we could use our skills without hurting people. We didn't have a clue what a Huntsman was until we were about your age… We took an entrance examine when we were old enough, and the rest is history. Why do you ask?"

"Roy told me most people are chasing glory, or fame… I guess I put you all in that category without getting to know you first…"

"Everybody has their own reasons, but it doesn't make their actions any less good," replied Qrow. "If one person saves a life out of duty, and another saves a life out of the kindness of their heart, do you think the people they saved are any less thankful?"

"I've never thought about it that way," admitted Naruto. "I guess there is still a lot I need to learn about this world…"

"Me too. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. I guess the old saying is true, 'ignorance is bliss'." Naruto hummed in agreement, and the two continued on in silence.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Normally I don't respond to reviews at the end of each chapter, but since this is a once a month update, I figured it would be alright.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Pairing Summer and Naruto is unlikely at this point in time, as Summer is about ten years older, and Naruto is still only fifteen.**

 **The Exiled Darkness: I really want to just tell you, but this story's outline is totally planned out, and I don't want to spoil anything. Thanks for pointing out exactly what you enjoyed, I appreciate it.**

 **Ex-StarBurn: At the moment, nobody**

 **YoungJiraiya: I don't want to say at the moment, as it will come later.**

 **Naruto x Sister the best XD: Nobody at the moment**

 **Guest: Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoy Team Monochrome too!**

 **bdgbs: Thanks, I hope this update is enough for another month.**

 **kurama587: In terms of age, Team STRQ has been out of beacon for about four years now, making them all twenty-five, give or take a few months.**

 **Kd23: That is a great theory, and while it does hold some merit, the true reason will be revealed in time. Keep theorizing.**

 **MetalSharkey90: I'm glad your enjoying it! As for Naruto taking the Arc name, no, he will not. While Naruto did hold a lot of respect for him, he as closer to Viola, and he didn't take her name either, so Naruto will remain an Uzumaki.**

 **DLM4: Qrow's soberness is something that will be explored in later chapters, and the pacing will be rather natural, aside from minor time skips in between chapters.**

 **BBWulf: Naruto was displaced when he was 14, which would mean that he arrived in the middle of Jiraiya's trip with him.**

 **THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight: I'm glad you noticed Summer's similarities to (future) Ruby, but I hope she's coming off different enough.**

 **Dr4g0nb411z: I'm glad you saw his slight loss of sanity and I hope that you enjoyed his little episode in this chapter.**

 **SenorCheesecake: I really appreciate that, and I'm happy that even though I don't have a ton of stories written, you still enjoy them.**

 **And that's a wrap.**

 **Now, I'm just going to wait patiently until console gets Orisa on Overwatch... I hope to hear from more of you, and if your review was not mentioned, it's because I didn't know how to respond to it, other than thanks, so thanks!**

 **~LVR6**


	4. Vale

Chapter Four: Vale

* * *

" **What possible reason could you have to want to protect these four?** " the massive fox asked, growling through the bars of his prison.

"They're my friends!" defended Naruto, although he was hardly convincing.

" **That Raven character doesn't see you as one, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it was that silver-eyed girl you like so much who called us a monster, was it not?"**

"She didn't mean it! She was just… scared of us. I used four tails worth of your charka, I've never been able to control that much!"

" **You never will at this rate,"** growled the Kyuubi. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion. **"Your time in this world has made you soft. You were once a ninja, not a good one, but one who never gave up. Now look at us, brat; the first town we lived in was destroyed by creatures I could kill with a flick of my tail."**

"I wasn't strong enough," Naruto replied ashamed.

" **BULLSHIT! You have the entirety of my chakra at your disposal, yet you're too afraid to use it!"**

"You'll try to take control the first chance you get! I've felt your blood lust when I was in our Four-tail state!"

" **You are truly the densest meat-bag I've ever met,"** the Fox lamented in disappointment, **"and to have you as my container, no less."**

"What do you mean by that?"

" **That wasn't** _ **my**_ **lust for death, idiot, it was** _ **yours.**_ **You've felt my hatred towards you shinobi scum before, and you would not have been able to stop my assault simply because your 'friends' were in danger. You're not strong enough."** Naruto refused to believe the fox.

"I wouldn't want to kill anybody," denied Naruto. "It would make me no better than they are!"

" **Don't pretend to be so high and mighty,"** the fox scoffed. **"You have buried your hatred so deep that you only see yourself as a victim now. It's pathetic, and I refuse to allow you to go on like this!"**

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto. "What would you have me do then?!"

" **Become the warrior Roy trained you to be!"** roared the Kyuubi. Naruto stared in surprise at the fox's words. **"If these Huntsman teams are truly the biggest threat this world has to offer, Remnant might as well be served on a silver platter."**

"You want me to conquer Remnant?" Naruto asked confused.

" **You're missing the point, brat. If you train yourself to manage four tails of my chakra, there shouldn't be a force on this measly world that could stop us. Which means, nobody would treat you like dirt anymore."**

"You mean 'us'," corrected Naruto without thinking. "Nobody, Bijuu, human, or whatever a Faunus is, should be treated like this." The Kyuubi smirked internally, seeing the realization fall on Naruto's face. "If… if we work together, we might be able to change people's minds." Naruto then noticed that his mindscape was fading, and soon found himself in the waking world.

* * *

"Does he always sleep like that?" asked Tai, as he watched Summer attempt to wake the mediating Naruto.

"Not that I know of," she sighed defeated. "I guess it's another one of his quirky habits."

"You're the last one who should be talking about being quirky," pointed out Tai with a laugh. Summer pouted slightly. A few moments later, Naruto stirred awake. "He lives!"

"What?" asked Naruto confused, as he began to stretch.

"We've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes now," explained Summer. "How do you sleep sitting like that?"

"I wasn't sleeping, I was mediating," replied Naruto. "I guess I might have dozed off or something…"

"Don't worry about it, we're only about a day away from Vale," Tai replied, trying to brush it off.

"Vale?" asked Naruto, looking over to Summer. "I thought you said there was a Grimm infestation this way." Summer tried to shrink underneath his accusatory stare.

"Oh, that?" Summer tried to play off. "Oh well, there was one, but um, they got cleared up! By uh, another huntsman team! Yea, so that's why we're headed back?" she finished.

"Summer, I told you I'm not joining any academy," Naruto reminded a bit annoyed. "You can't force me to go!"

"Whoa, who said anything about an academy?" asked Qrow, screwing the cap on his water container. "Nobody is going to force you to do anything, kid."

"Then why did you all lie to me to get me to come to Vale?" countered the blond.

"Well, technically only Summer lied," pointed out Tai, earning a punch to the arm from Qrow. "Ow, what? It's true!"

"Regardless, we just wanted to show you what it's like," explained Summer, "and if you're absolutely against it, I'll personally pay for your air trip to Menagerie. It's where you wanted to go, right?" Naruto wanted to protest, but he couldn't find a reason to, apart from being lied to.

"It's a win-win situation, no matter how you look at it," Tai added, trying to convince the teen.

Qrow pulled Summer aside, needing to have a word with her. "What did my sister think about this?"

"She's not totally against it," replied Summer, "most likely because she plans on leaving the team anyway."

"You two really need to sort that out," sighed Qrow. Summer nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey, Summer… we really should let Oz know about this kid. I hate to admit it, but Raven is right about him being a potential threat."

"How could you say that?" asked Summer, before seeing the stern expression he wore. She looked back over to the campsite, where Naruto and Tai were now arguing about something. It didn't seem to be serious, so she turned her attention back to her partner.

"Summer, every Grimm we've face cowered in fear when your eyes begin to glow, yet… whatever that thing is in him didn't. I know he's just a kid, but somebody needs to keep an eye on him. Someone… less mother-like."

"I'm not trying to be his mother," Summer grumbled, "I just… wanted to be his friend. The haunted look he tries to hide in his eyes isn't something I can just ignore."

"I'm not telling you to cut yourself off from him," he sighed. "Just… don't be so involved, alright? It'll be harder when he inevitably has to gone off on his own."

"What makes you think he won't want to stick around? Like our team?"

"Our team isn't exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment, Summer. We've done good work as a team, but we might be better off doing our own things."

"You want to leave too?" asked Summer in shock.

"No, of course not!" defended Qrow. "Listen to me, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, right? Raven and I excel at infiltration and intel gathering, but you and Tai are a bit… noisy."

"So what are you purposing?" asked Summer, unsure.

"We keep our team unregistered, like it is, but maybe we can go off on solo missions once in a while. Nobody can take on a horde of Grimm like you, and Tai would be an excellent bounty hunter." Summer smiled sadly, and let out a humorless laugh.

"I guess this day really was coming," she mumbled. Before she could register anything, she felt Qrow wrap an arm around her.

"Don't worry, Summer. We don't have to do this all at once. Let's ease into it, ok?" Summer returned the hug, and sighed to herself.

"Sometimes I wonder why you weren't picked to be our leader," she said wistfully.

"Probably because you're the only one who can control Tai," joked Qrow. Summer laughed a bit, and took a deep breath.

"Thank you Qrow," she said to him. "You're the best partner a girl could ask for."

Qrow smiled back, and remembered Naruto's question to him a few weeks back.

' _Do you always do whatever it takes to make her happy?'_ asked Naruto.

' _If I can, then yes,'_ replied Qrow.

' _Do you ever regret it?'_

"Can't say I do, kid," Qrow mused to himself as he followed his leader back to the others.

* * *

"That totally doesn't count!" argued Tai. "If you make a bunch of clones, of course they can lift more."

"Then I am stronger than you!" shouted back Naruto.

"No you aren't! That's cheating! You're using like a bunch of little people to out-muscle a bigger, better looking one!"

"You aren't better looking!" denied Naruto. "You're just full of yourself! Besides, I make those clones with my own abilities! How is that cheating?"

"What is going on here?" asked Summer, as she arrived to the strange scene.

"Tell this idiot I'm stronger than him!" the two blonds shouted in unison. Summer smiled, and agreed.

"Alright, you're stronger," she said with a laugh. The two blonds then turned back to each other.

"See?" they said together. "She agrees! She meant me! No, me! Stop that!"

"This is starting to get a bit eerie," noted Qrow, as the two blonds continued to talk in sync.

"Are we going to head out soon?" asked Raven, making her presence known.

"Yea, once we clean up our campsite," replied Summer, a bit forced. Raven hummed in acknowledgement, and walked over to Tai, who was now trading insults with Naruto. "We should hurry," added Summer. The team silently packed and began to walk.

"So, um, what's Vale like?" asked Naruto, breaking the silence. Summer lit up, and decided to explain to him.

"Oh Vale is great! There are tall buildings, ice cream shops and Dust shops. Pretty much anything you can think of, Vale will have it. Aside from Beacon, which is the academy we went to, there is also the CCT tower that's always pretty to look at."

"What's CCT stand for?" asked Naruto.

"Cross Continental Transmit," replied Summer. She reached into her pocket and took out her scroll, which was a lot smaller and sleeker than the one Roy would occasionally use. "It lets us use these to talk to people all over the world! We can go, if you want to."

"I don't have anybody to talk to," Naruto reminded, trying his best to keep his voice steady.

"Well, I can show you how to make a call," offered Summer, "that way if you do decide to live in Menagerie, we can still talk to each other."

"I'd like that," smiled Naruto. He had assumed that once he left he would never see them again, but Summer was ensuring that they would remain friends. "What else is there?"

"I don't even know where to start," Summer said happily. "There's a library with tons of books, although I've never been a fan of reading…"

"Is there a place that sells ramen?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Ramen?" asked the leader, a bit surprised at the specificity of the question. "Yea, there are one or two places I've seen." The look on the teen's face was one of pure joy. "It'll be our first stop."

"Thanks," Naruto replied almost embarrassed. Summer ruffled his hair, and the two continued to walk on, as Summer found herself explaining what a 'car' was, and why it was used.

* * *

A few hours later, Team STRQ found themselves finishing off a few stray Grimm that had attacked them. For some reason, they consistently tried to attack Naruto, but he was more than capable of handling himself. Tai was mildly impressed with his speed, but knew that he'd have a long way to go before being as fast at them. While he did catch them by surprise initially, it was their training that allowed them to evade his strange attack back in the alley. Regardless, Naruto seemed to be using his sword less and less.

"Hey kid, why aren't you cutting up the Grimm?" asked Tai. "Isn't that why you have a weapon?"

"I don't need to use it," replied Naruto. "Besides, none of you need protecting." Tai shrugged it off, but Qrow had begun to dwell on his choice of words. "Is there any way we can get to Vale faster?"

"What's the rush?" asked Qrow. "I thought you didn't want to go."

"I'm just tired of camping out every night," Naruto tried to explain, although it was apparent there was another reason. Regardless, Qrow decided not to hound him on it.

"Well, if we went full speed, we could probably make it before sunset," replied Qrow, before looking at Naruto with a challenging look. "That is if you can keep up."

"Keep up?" asked Naruto with disbelief. "I thought you guys were just slow! Let's go!"

"Are we doing this?" asked Tai, as he dropped down to a runner's stance. "I'll race you there, punk. Consider this round two." Naruto felt a grin forming, and mimicked the older blond.

"Just tell me how to get there, so I don't have to wait for you to catch up," remarked Naruto.

"Oooh! I want in on this!" Summer cheered as she swept her cape dramatically. "Qrow, count us down!"

"Seriously?" asked Qrow with a sigh. "Whatever… three… two… one… go, I guess."

The two twins were met with a huge gust of air as the three burst ahead.

* * *

-Several Hours Later-

* * *

"Where –huff, is he?" Summer gasped, as she caught up to Tai. The two had arrived at the city gates, but had lost track of Naruto a few miles after they sprinted.

"He's probably trying to catch our dust trails," Tai joked, as he panted. "I shouldn't have had that last beer last night…"

"Should we wait for him here?" asked the silver-eyed girl. Tai shook his head, as he stretched. It wasn't long before two birds flew towards them, each perched on one of their shoulders.

"Oh, hey Qrow," Summer greeted, as she lightly petted the bird. Tai tried to mimic the action, but his bird snapped its beak at him. "Can you two go ahead and find a ramen place? I sort of promised Naruto we'd go." The two birds flew off without a sound, leaving the two alone once more.

"Don't you think that being able to turn into a bird is a bit weird?"

"Yea," agreed Summer, "but it's pretty cool. I wish I could do cool stuff like that."

"You can literally look at a Grimm and kill it… what more could you want?" Summer laughed nervously as he pointed out her gifts. "Anyway, I'm gonna head back out there… he might have gotten lost somewhere down the way."

"All he had to do was follow the road," Summer pointed out a bit worried. "You think that he got attacked on the way?"

"Well if he did, I doubt he needs backup," Tai assured. As he turned to leave, the two suddenly felt the same suffocating atmosphere they experienced a few days ago. The two looked at each other, and wordlessly ran off to the general direction they were feeling the killing intent.

* * *

-A Few Moments Earlier-

* * *

Naruto came to a stop once he saw the gates to the city. He took a while to admire just how much bigger they were, as well as how many guards they had posted around it. What's more, is upon arriving, he was not interrogated and simply allowed in. Seeing the difference between the main city and the smaller villages made him feel a bit bittersweet. As he walked into the city, he was in awe.

Summer had not exaggerated about how many buildings there were, nor how tall they were. He seldom saw a dirt path, as everything was paved over with either asphalt or cement. His hand went to the locket around his neck which he normally concealed under his shirt, and he let out a sigh.

"You would have loved it here…" he whispered to himself. Naruto couldn't bear to open it, and began to wander around, ensuring to stay close enough to the entrance so team STRQ could find him once they caught up. "It's everything you said it would be…"

' **This is a city I wouldn't mind destroying,'** the Kyuubi remarked. Naruto continued to wander as he began to talk to his tenant.

"Is destruction the only thing you think about?" Naruto asked a bit annoyed.

' **Do my remarks really surprise at this point?'** the fox asked dryly. **'I've been nothing but consistent your entire life.'**

"Well, with that attitude, it's going to be hard to change people's opinion about us," sighed Naruto. "But I guess I can't expect such a huge change to be instant."

' **Who said I want to change?'** the Kyuubi scoffed. **'I couldn't care less what these insects think of me.'**

"I've thought about what you said," Naruto admitted. "Back in the alley, and I know that you –"

"HELP!" they heard a woman scream. Naruto immediately ran towards the plead for help, as the shout was suddenly silenced. Zipping down the street, and weaving through an alley, he found the source.

"Come on, you're a rabbit, aren't ya?" asked a large man, as he help the woman's two long rabbit ears roughly above her head. Next to him were three other thugs each brandishing a variety of knives. "Adal Wolf says you Faunus are just like the animals you take after, so why are you still resisting?"

"Let go of me!" the woman cried. "I won't tell anybody, please!"

"You think we'll believe you?" another thug asked.

"Let g **o of her,"** Naruto seethed. The group of men looked over to see the blond shaking with anger. Unfortunately, they thought it was from fear.

"Get lost kid," the man holding the woman's ears grunted. "I can see you quivering in fear, so don't try to be a hero."

" **I'm not going to ask again,"** the ninja responded, his eyes glowing red.

"Hey boss, I think the little creep wants to watch," one of the smaller thugs remarked. Before anybody could respond to that comment, a kunai embedded itself next to the thug, a small cut appearing on his cheek. This seemed to anger the larger man, who let the woman go, and revealed a sword he had concealed. Slowly unsheathing it, he pointed it to Naruto.

"I was going to let you walk away from this, but you're starting to piss me off kid," the man growled. He stalked up to the teen, his posse following closely behind. Naruto didn't flinch and began to walk towards them. Soon, another voice was heard behind them.

"NARUTO!" shouted Summer. To her surprise, the seething blond halted his advance.

"Looks like his owner has a pretty tight leash on him, huh?" asked the shortest member. Naruto turned back to the group, his hand twitching towards his sword.

"They're not worth it," he heard Qrow mutter, as he dropped down from above. The thugs looked up in confusion, before realizing they no longer outnumbered the young teen. They turned to run, only to be met by Raven, her red eyes piercing through the darkness.

"Listen to Qrow, kid," began Tai, as he stepped towards Naruto. "We'll handle this… just don't flip out, alright?"

"R-right," Naruto conceded, his eyes reverting to blue. As Summer made her way towards the temporary addition to her team, another woman beat her to him.

"Thank you!" the rabbit Faunus cried, as she hugged the ninja in a tight hug. "I was afraid they were going to kill me!"

"You're alright now," Summer assured, as she put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "If I were you, I'd get home as soon as possible. It's going to be dark soon."

"Of course!" the woman said relieved, as she wiped tears away. "I-I'll go now."

"If you'd like, Naruto and I could escort you," Summer offered. "My team will take care of those criminals."

"You're Huntsmen?" the woman asked, as she turned to Naruto. "Y-you seem awfully young to be…"

"I was raised outside the village," Naruto replied. He still felt anger towards the cowardly group of men, but the relief this Faunus woman was expressing lightened his hardened gaze. "Er, I mean city. I'm just tagging along with them for a while."

"Thank you," she repeated. "I can't thank you enough…"

"Don't worry about it," Summer brushed off, as she followed the two retreating figures. "Is your home far from here?"

"No, not at all," she said with a shy smile. "It's just past the clothing store on Fifth."

* * *

"So…" Taiyang began awkwardly, as the three Huntsmen awaited for a police car to arrive. "Back at the village… Before the attack… You agreed to go out with me, right?"

"How can you be thinking about that right now?" asked Raven.

"Well, we're finally back home, and I wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. I just remember summoning fruit carts from the sky."

"You never summoned any- you know what, I don't care," Qrow scoffed. How Tai's mind worked has always eluded him, and he has finally begun to give up.

"Then, yes, I did agree to one date," Raven sighed tiredly. "Where do you plan on taking me?"

"Like I've had time to think about it!" Tai replied, throwing his hands into the air. "I guess you'll just have to wait until I can think of a place worth taking you." Qrow's eyes widened slightly, and carefully looked over to Raven's reaction.

"Whatever," she said shaking her head. Soon, the telltale red and blue lights flashed and the police arrived. A pair of cops came out, one walking straight over to the slightly roughed up group of thugs.

"Alright, so what happened here?" asked the other. Qrow just leaned against the wall to the alley and began giving his report.

* * *

-Later-

* * *

"So you work at a bakery?" asked Summer excitedly.

"Yes Ma'am, it's been a family business for the last three generations," the Rabbit Faunus said a bit proudly. "We use a lot of my Mum recipes to get that Menagerie taste you can't get in the city."

"Marble, you don't have to call me 'Ma'am', Summer is fine," the leader smiled. Naruto had been mostly silent the entire time they've been walking, but he was listening intently.

"Are you from Menagerie?" asked Naruto.

"I've never actually been there, to be honest," Marble replied. "My parents moved here long before I was born, but they brought a little taste of home with them."

"I have to try something from your bakery," Summer excitedly declared, hopping up and down. Upon receiving strange stares from Marble and Naruto, she stopped immediately and blushed. "Sorry, I have something of a sweep tooth…"

"That's great!" Marble said with a polite laugh. "We have plenty of options to satisfy that. How about you?"

"Huh?" asked Naruto. "I don't really know… I haven't eaten anything but forest animals for the last… few months or so."

"Then I insist that you two come to the bakery tomorrow," Marble replied. "Bring the rest of you team too! It's the least I can do for saving me tonight."

"Marble, you-" began Naruto.

"We'll be there!" Summer interrupted. "Is this your home here?"

"Oh, right, yes," she realized. "I can't thank you two enough… there has been an increase in… Faunus abuse recently. I thought I was going to be next."

"You have nothing to worry about now," Summer smiled warmly. "We'll see you tomorrow then, Marble." The rabbit Faunus smiled back and walked into her apartment complex. Summer turned to her new friend and sighed. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yea," he answered automatically.

"Naruto… that feeling back there… was that fox of yours-?"

"No, that wasn't him," he admitted. "He said that while he was disgusted in what those men were going to do to her, that anger was my own… Summer, I didn't mean to let any of that out, you have to believe me, I'm usually much better at holding it in!"

"It's alright," she said, holding his shoulders. "You were able to stop it before it got out of hand. I know how hard it can be to learn to control incredible power, and you did great! Although I wish you _didn't_ try to hold everything in."

"If I didn't, who knows what would have happened," Naruto pointed out. "I don't have a choice, I can't let myself feel negative emotions anymore."

"Naruto, I want to share with you something my father told me when I was a little girl. He said, 'Summer, feeling angry, sad or guilt can hurt those around us, but if you don't let yourself feel them when you need to, it festers and becomes much worse. You'll lash out at somebody who doesn't deserve it, or, if you let it sit for too long… it can poison you."

"Poison?" asked Naruto. "I doubt I'll drop dead."

"No, you're missing the point," Summer argued, before sighing and dropping it. "It took me a while for it to sink in… Anyway, I know of a place that we can stay tonight. Qrow probably took the others there too."

"Yea, it's been a long day," Naruto agreed.

"We aren't going right now," Summer scoffed playfully.

"What are you talking about?"

"I made you a promise, and if there is one thing you should know about me, it's that,"

"That you have a weapon fetish?" asked Naruto.

"That I have a weapon fetish!" Summer repeated proudly. "Wait, no! Darn it Naruto, that's not what I meant. I keep my promises. No matter how big or small, I'll follow through. So I'm not letting you sleep until you've eaten as much ramen as you can!"

* * *

-Several hours later-

* * *

"How!?" Summer shouted dramatically. "Where did it go?"

In front of her was the blond ninja face down on the ramen counter soundly asleep. Beside him were two tall stacks of ramen bowls that nearly reached her height. The owner of the establishment handed her the bill, to which her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. Summer took out her credit card and cried comically as she handed it over.

"I guess my weapon upgrades can wait…" she muttered to herself. "Naruto, are you ready to get back to the hotel?"

"Zzzz"

"Of course…" she sighed again. Hoisting the teen over her shoulder she began to make her way down the streets.

* * *

A young Naruto held his sunken stomach as it growled at him. Wobbling as he walked, he made his way down the dirt path, passing many stores that chased him away when he tried to enter. He could feel himself beginning to lose consciousness when a heavenly smell reached his nostrils, and he began to blindly follow it. It wasn't long before he got to a stand that was brightly lit, although there didn't seem to be anybody in the shack. Peeking through the curtain, the aroma hit him full force, and he simply stood there intoxicated by it.

"Hey, who are you?" asked a male voice, which made Naruto freeze. As soon as his mind began to work again, his instincts to run kicked in. "Wait!"

To this day, Naruto still didn't know why he listened to the man. Was it the lack of malice in his voice? Or perhaps he believed if he complied, the inevitable beating wouldn't be as bad. Regardless, the small boy froze.

"Come on in," the man said, this time gently. "Don't be afraid."

"Y-y-y-you aren't g-g-going to h-hurt me?" Naruto asked. He hated how frail his voice sounded, and the doubt was evident.

"Of course not, come, take a seat."

"I don't have any money," the blond informed, wincing as the words came out of his mouth. He couldn't find himself to look the man in the eye.

"Father… who is that?" asked another voice, this one feminine.

"He's a new customer," the man replied with a smile in his voice. Naruto thought for a second that the owner hadn't heard him, but when the man placed a large bowl full of broth, noodles and pork, the child began to scarf it down greedily. To his surprise, the girl giggled at his antics.

"Wow, I've never seen anybody eat so fast!" she said with amazement. Her father chuckled as he ruffled the girl's hair.

"You shouldn't say that in front of our customers, Ayane. He might get embarrassed and not want to come back." The cook turned back to the blond who had just finished drinking the remaining broth. "So, how was it?"

"It was amazing! Thank you sir!"

"No need for the formalities," the man waved off. "Call me Teuchi." Naruto cracked a smile, before the realization hit him.

"Um, Teuchi-san… I still don't have any money…" The ramen maker feigned a shocked expression and then began to think.

"Well… I guess demanding payment in the form of money would be useless then…" he said aloud. Naruto began to shrink in his stool. "I guess there is only one other way for you to pay it back. How about you help me by tasting my new recipes to see if they're any good? Is that alright with you?"

"R-really?" Naruto asked in shock. Once again, Ayane laughed.

"Of course!" she answered. "My dad wouldn't tease you like that!"

Naruto's eyes began to water, but he shut them before any tears fell. With a deep bow, Naruto gave an emotional "Thank you!"

* * *

The Following Morning

* * *

"Um, you're welcome?" Summer replied as Naruto stirred awake. She had been up for a while now, and was already in her hood and cape. She watched amused as Naruto tried to go back to sleep. "Hey, wake up! We have things to do today!"

"I don't wanna go to school!" Naruto whined groggily.

"You're not going to attend," Summer laughed. "I just need to report in with my team. You don't want to come along?"

"Five more minutes Viola," Naruto said into his pillow. Summer winced as he mistook her for his deceased friend.

"Right, of course," she replied. "We won't be long." Summer exited the teen's room, and made her way to the lobby where her team was already waiting for her.

"Morning Summer!" Tai greeted, popping the joints in his shoulders. "We gonna report to Ozpin today?"

"Yup," she agreed, as she looked over to Raven. While she had a stern look on her face, she didn't have the same disappointed look she wore the day before.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Qrow muttered, still rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes.

* * *

Naruto finally decided to get back up a few minutes later. When he woke, he found himself in another unfamiliar room, he sighed to himself that he shouldn't make a habit out of this. Seeing that he was in a hotel room, he decided to take a hot shower, something he sorely missed the last few weeks. As he continued to his routine, his companion decided to chime in.

" **You almost went berserk last night,"** the deep voice boomed.

"I'm aware," Naruto sighed. "Wasn't exactly something I could ignore though."

" **Something I begrudgingly agree with you on… although I would have not heeded orders from somebody like I was their pet."**

"I'm nobody's pet! She just stopped me from doing something I was going to regret."

" **What is that something, exactly?"**

"You know exactly what it is…"

" **I know. You wanted them dead, and I can tell that you still feel that way now… but that's not what you'd regret is it? If they wounded up dead at your doorstep, you wouldn't feel any sympathy, would you?"**

"What are you trying to say?"

" **You've been surrounded by death your entire life, but to this day, you've never taken a life yourself."**

"I'm not a killer," he argued.

" **Yet you've been trained as one until a year ago. I can sense something dark inside you, Naruto, and it's going to continue to grow."**

"Like I would believe you! My shinobi training doesn't make me heartless."

" **I've been with you your entire life, brat, you can't hide your fears from me."**

"Is that so? Then what exactly do you think I'm scared of?"

" **It's quite simple really,"** the fox said knowingly. Naruto found his tone to be condescending, but bit his tongue. **"You aren't afraid to kill, as your urges to kill those men last night still lingering now proves it… No, you're afraid that you'll like it, that it would only lead to you wanting to kill more and more."**

"You're wrong," Naruto denied. "I don't kill because it's wrong, there is no way I'd enjoy something that evil."

" **Not at first,"** the Kyuubi warned, **"but the first one is always the hardest. The kills that follow aren't quite as memorable, unless it was particularly…** _ **exciting**_ **."**

"Why are you telling me this?"

" **Your kind thought me to be a demon that came to be from the collective hatred of humanity, but I don't come from such abstract origins. No, the hatred I feel is my own, and it has grown over the lifetimes I lived in the Elemental Nations. However… as I mentioned before, these people here in Remnant have never wronged me. While they are much more fragile than the meat-bags back in Konoha, I think it would be interesting to observe them for a while before I disappear. I wouldn't be able to do that if you went around killing everybody that looked at you funny. I need you to learn to control your dark desires, because I won't do it for you anymore."**

"You've never tried to control it!" Naruto accused. "You've done nothing but the opposite since we first met!"

" **You truly are a thick-headed idiot…"** The fox grumbled before the mental link was severed.

"What would you know…" Naruto muttered to himself. He nearly finished getting dressed, but sat on his bed. "Those… monsters… they were going to do something unforgivable…"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Room service!" called out a kind voice. "I was instructed to bring you some breakfast around this time by a Mr. Branwen? Are you awake?"

"Yea, come on in," Naruto replied tiredly. His thoughts seem to exhaust him more than any fight he's ever participated in. In came a woman wearing an apron holding a tray.

"The gentlemen said this is your first time in Vale, so I brought you some of our specialties. Oh, but if you'd like you can look at the menu if this doesn't suit your taste."

"That's fine," Naruto replied politely. "Thank you." The woman set down the tray and walked out. "Scrambled eggs is a specialty?" he asked himself. 'Wonder where I should go today…' he thought to himself. Before he could think too much, there was another knock at the door.

* * *

Headmaster's Office: Beacon

* * *

"Once we arrived to the neighboring village, we found out from the locals that there hasn't been any contact from that village in a few weeks, despite the communication towers being completely operational," informed Summer.

"As it turns out, there usual shipment of goods didn't arrive either," added Tai. "Although it's common for it to be a few hours late due to weather, one of the merchants said it has been sunny for the past week or so, meaning there shouldn't have been a delay."

"This is all very troubling…" the green clad headmaster sighed under his breath. "You mentioned that Roy Arc had already passed away by this time?"

"That's what we were told, sir," replied Raven, which earned her a raised eyebrow. "We were told that there was a massive Grimm attack that took place about a week before we arrived, in which there was only one survivor; a teenager who claims to have been taken in by Roy for the past year."

"You're talking about Mr. Uzumaki?"

"How did you know about him, Professor Ozpin?" asked Summer. The way Ozpin spoke of him, it's as if he was aware of the teen already.

"Roy and I didn't have many secrets from each other, and when a child wanders into a small village making outrageous claims, it was worth bringing up," Ozpin explained. "He assured me that this protégé of his was well trained over the year he spent there. I'm not surprised that he would have been able to escape."

"What sort of claims did he make?" asked Raven. Summer looked over to her teammate and then back to the Headmaster.

"It's quite curious, actually," Ozpin began with a polite chuckle. "He claimed the he was from another world entirely. One full of ninjas with the ability to morph the terrain around them, and giant monsters that could flatten mountains. It was completely ludicrous to be honest, but Roy was convinced the teen believed in the story he was telling. Unfortunately, Mr. Arc informed me that he had no intention of attending a Huntsman Academy, and was actually quite against the thought. However, I would have liked to ask that boy some questions about his home world."

"He's here in Vale now," Raven informed before Summer could try to cover it up.

"Is that so?" asked the Headmaster, now interested. "Why is that, exactly?"

"Summer thought it was in his best interest if he were to tag along," Qrow answered, quickly coming up with an explanation. "Given that he had just lost the only two people in his life that could be considered family, and that both villages aren't exactly the kindest towards Faunus… we talked it over and decided that if we could get him out of those discriminatory places, he wouldn't develop some sort of misguided hatred towards humanity."

"That seems very reasonable," Ozpin nodded. "But Summer, is that all there is to it?"

She shrank slightly under his interrogating stare before she took a deep breath and sighed.

"No, Professor Ozpin. I thought I, er- we, could save him. When I found him, he was wandering around the streets with an empty look in his eyes… much like the survivors of the Mount Glenn incident. He had nothing, and nobody to go to, and even if he is just one person, I wanted to help."

"That's very admirable Ms. Rose," Ozpin praised. "While it was not within your mission parameters, you've displayed what it truly means to be a Huntress. Where is this Uzumaki?"

"He's back at the hotel room," Summer admitted. "He had too much to eat last night, and I couldn't get him to wake up…"

"If time permits, I'd like for you to bring him here. I'd like to meet this curious teenager."

"Y-yes sir," Summer hesitantly replied.

* * *

-Hotel Room-

* * *

Naruto ducked under a sword swipe, and found himself dodging several gunshots. When he answered the door, he was swarmed by several masked men holding a variety of weapons.

"Who are you!?" he shouted, kicking one of his assailants' knees in.

"Shut up, Faunus scum!" shouted another one. Naruto gritted his teeth at the derogatory insults. "Boss wants to send a message to those filthy Huntsmen, so stay still!"

"Has it ever occurred to you that I could pass on said message?" Naruto asked. He began to get frustrated at the aimless assault, and decided to fight back for real. Blocking an overhead swing of a club, Naruto viciously snapped the man's elbow, and grabbed the weapon before it fell. Turning swiftly, he smashed the club into another's head sending him rocketing through a wall. Without a word, he summoned a clone, which began to gather and mold chakra into his left hand. Looking to the few remaining, he threw a kick at one's head and rushed towards another.  
"RASENGAN!" he roared, as he slammed the technique into the man's stomach. He too was send barreling back, and unfortunately for the man, out a window. He turned back to the last one, who was shaking in fear at how quickly his friends were taken out.

"D-don't hurt me!" he begged.

"You're pathetic," Naruto growled, his eyes slowly turning red. He grabbed the man by his shirt and ripped off his mask. As expected, Naruto had no idea who the man was. "You tell your 'boss' that if he or anybody who works for him comes near me again…" he growled. **"I won't leave any of you breathing."**

"Y-y-yes s-sir!" the man squeaked. Naruto let him go, and watched him run away. Annoyed, he walked towards the lobby, getting a few looks from curious tenants who came out to see what the commotion was about. He sat at the lobby, and decided to wait for the police to show by watching the news.

"-which is why we must understand that Humans and Faunus are fundamentally different!" said an older man with white hair. "Faunus take after the animal they share traits with, meaning that most Faunus, especially men, are overly aggressive. We cannot expect for them to show the same levels of self-control that we Humans have."

"Mr. Wolf, while I'm sure there are many people who agree with you, what you're saying is extremely insulting," said the news anchor. "I have a paper here written by Dr. Evergreen who's studies have shown that Faunus and Human behavior in a controlled environment are virtually identical. It seems that the only difference in how one acts to the other is whether or not they are the majority."

"That's what I'm talking about! Faunus will naturally fall into what I like to call 'herd mentality', which makes them imitate the alphas in their groups. I mean take a look at the Faunus rally this past weekend! It was advertised as a peaceful protest, but when a Human disagreed with them, it broke out into a riot!"

"With all due respect, it was a _Faunus_ rally. In fact, we have sources who say that the Human in question didn't 'disagree' as you put it, but rather was shouting racial remarks and provoking them into violence."

"Oh, so you can have a Faunus Rally where Humans aren't allowed, but if Human's were to have an exclusive Human Rally, it would be plastered all over this news station as an anti-Faunus conspiracy! This is why VNN will never be a trustworthy news source!" The man then stood up and stomped out of the interviewing room, leaving the anchor sighing in disappointment.

"I'm sorry folks, it seems our guest, Mr. Adal Wolf has walked out," he reported. "We'll be back after these messages. Until then, this is Robin Mead."

Naruto sat in the sofa fuming. While he was careful to not let his negativity out, every word that Adal said made him despise the anti-Faunus humans even further. While he tried to reign his temper, the police finally made it to the scene.

"It's about time," Naruto muttered to himself, a bit relieved at the distraction. He got up, knowing that they would want to ask him some questions. He walked over to the man taking notes of the scene and sighed. "Hey," he greeted.

"You know who is responsible for this damage?" he asked.

"Some assholes who came in to mug me," replied Naruto annoyed. "I was in my hotel room when five or six guys came in and started attacking me."

"Is that so?" asked the man, as he began to put his notepad away.

"Yea, aren't you going to write this down?" asked Naruto, a bit confused. The man looked over to the rest of the police whose attention were now drawn to the blond. The police officer grabbed his pair of handcuffs and took a step towards Naruto.

"Sir, you have the right to remain silent," began the man. Naruto's eyes widened as he was caught off guard. He was about to resist, but it seemed that the entire force drew their guns and were pointing them at him. He knew he did nothing wrong, but the gravity of the situation was enough for him to be compliant.

"W-what's going on?" he asked, as he allowed himself to be taken in. The cop cuffing him continued to read him his rights, as another came in closer.

"We got a call that there was a felony on the loose," he replied. "It seems that you match the description, so we have to take you in for questioning."

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!" Naruto insisted. To his dismay, the rest of the police force ignored his pleads as they began to close in on him, escorting him outside. "I'm innocent! _I_ was attacked! What are you doing?! The real criminals are in there!"

"Shut up!" shouted a third officer as he slammed his handgun against Naruto's head. He growled at the pain, but did his best to keep the red charka from flowing out. It seems that the officer was a bit shocked that he wasn't knocked unconscious.

"I'll remember you," Naruto growled, making the officer step back.

* * *

-Team STRQ-

* * *

"Does that kid really think he's from another world?" asked Tai in disbelief. "He didn't seem to be crazy the last few weeks."

"He's not crazy," Summer defended. "It's complicated, but I'm sure he'll be willing to explain everything..."

"You already knew," Raven said. It wasn't an accusation, but rather, she was stating a fact. Summer nodded anyway to remove any doubt.

"Whether this is all true or not is up for Ozpin to decide," Qrow interjected. "Now we just have to convince the kid to come to Beacon."

"It's just a few questions," Tai tried to assure his team. "I'm sure Naruto won't mind."

"Still… I told him he wouldn't have to go to Beacon," sighed Summer, seeing that Raven was no longer glaring daggers at her. "What if he thinks I'm a liar?"

"Summer, if anybody can get away with it, it would be you," Qrow replied. "You and him are pretty close, despite not knowing each other very long, I'm sure he'll understand. Although it probably would have been nice if somebody didn't tell Ozpin that he was here in Vale."

"No, she did what was right," Summer relented, surprising Raven. "If we kept it from Ozpin, we might as well be harboring a criminal. Our job is to report everything that happens out on a mission, so I don't hold anything against her."

"Seriously?" asked Tai and Qrow at the same time.

"Why would I?" asked Summer.

"You're really something else," Qrow laughed to himself. Raven narrowed her eyes at her leader, but didn't say a word. While she had meant every word she had said to her the few weeks before, Summer still didn't think ill of her. Raven's mind, however, was more concerned about the ever-growing mystery that surrounded the teenager.

"Thanks?" asked Summer unsure. Qrow shrugged, which didn't help her understand what she was trying to figure out. "Well, let's just get back to the hotel, I don't want Naruto to think we've abandoned him or anything." The two men nodded, as Raven followed a distance behind. As the team continued on, they noticed an increase in police activity, but didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until they arrived at their hotel, did they notice something wrong.

"Sorry, but this area is closed off for a police investigation," informed an officer as he held the team behind a yellow tape.

"What happened?" asked Summer concerned. "My friend was staying here this morning, I need to make sure he's ok."

"We have a list of witnesses, if you want to look through it," the officer replied, feeling bad for Summer. "If you see his name on there, he's alright. The majority of them were moved to a hotel around the corner." Summer nodded thankfully as the man handed her the list. As she began to look through it, she groaned as it wasn't in any sort of order. Reading through the list several times, she began to panic.

"He's not on here," she informed, as she handed the list back.

"Really? We pretty much interviewed everybody in the building," the officer replied. He handed the list off to another cop passing by as he got his notepad out. "Can you describe you friend? There were a handful of people who ran out when the fighting began."

"What fighting?" asked Qrow, as he noticed the damaged done to the walls. From the looks of it, it wasn't some civilian fight that happened. The officer must have felt bad, as he took a deep breath and began to explain to the group.

"Look, I'm not supposed to say anything to civilians, but you all look pretty concerned for your friend. There was an altercation after a police squad came in to arrest some criminal who was wanted for the attempted rape of a Faunus woman last night, along with assaulting several officers. He was tracked down to this hotel, where another squad came to make the arrest… Well, things must have gone south, because as we speak there is an officer with a fractured elbow, another with a dislocated knee and two who are suffering blunt force injuries. The only one who escaped was a rookie who was threatened by the guy that he wouldn't hold back from killing them or any other police officer the next time he saw any. He's pretty shaken up about it, but a third squad that came in were able to get him, and according to witnesses, the bastard was watching T.V. until they arrived before allowing himself to be taken in. I even heard from another guy that he threatened another officer as he was being cuffed."

"This sounds like one bad dude," Tai remarked, "but Naruto doesn't seem like the kind of guy to run away from this sort of thing, does he?"

"Not at all," replied Qrow. "In fact, he seems like the type of kid who would try to stop this sort of criminal. Summer do you think he left before any of this happened?"

"Did you say, 'Naruto'?" asked the officer, interrupting the leader.

"Yea!" Summer replied as she took a step forward. "Did you hear anything about him?"

"Uh, well, actually, I think I need to bring you four in for some questions," replied the officer. "It's nothing personal, just orders from the top brass, you know?"

"Wait, are we being detained?" asked Summer.

"Sorry Ma'am, but yes…" the officer replied regrettably. "If you would so kindly make my job a little bit easier and not resist? We're supposed to take in anybody who has connections with the arrest."

"You arrested Naruto?" asked Summer in shock. Her team looked around as the few remaining police officers began to close in on them.

"We'll go," Qrow spoke loudly enough for the lobby to hear. "We ain't resisting."

"Thanks" the officer who was questioning them said under his breath. Qrow grunted in acknowledgement as he allowed Summer to wrap her head around the situation. Tai and Raven followed silently.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Yea, I finally updated The Fox Who Tried. I finally got the motivation to rewrite the previously lost chapter, and I feel it turned out better than the other began, so that a plus.**

 **A friendly request that you check out my other works, Team Monochrome, which is currently sitting at 23 chapters, and my most recent attempt at a RWBY fiction, Deliverance. I will be updating both of those soon!**

 **Well, it's that time again when I respond to some of my reviewers.**

 **Shincore: Raven might be attracted to power, I don't see her as a pedophile. Naruto is 15 and she is in her mid-twenties, so while Naruto is strong, he's still sort of a kid in her eyes.**

 **SenorCheesecake: I'm sure I answered this already, but Summer's silver eye power was going to be used to attack Naruto/ Four-tail Kyuubi cloak, but when she saw him target her team with what seemed to be a devastating attack, she canceled her course of attack and attempted to block it with her body.**

 **Eniox: Pairings are never really a big focus in my stories, so I'm more likely than not, going to keep Naruto single.**

 **Devin316: I'm glad somebody caught the Avatar and Spongebob references!**

 **Luffyxrobin-luffyxnami: Naruto was in a friendly spar, he's not about to try to straight murder somebody. While he hasn't really gotten a chance to flex his ninja skills, in time, he will.**

 **KidDeath23: While that is a pretty good guess, no, that isn't why. If you look closely at this chapter, there is a pretty big hint as to why, so if you didn't catch it, reread it and shoot another theory at me!**

 **catze86: Naruto will not enter a Huntsman Academy.**

 **Guest: Naruto won't be paired with either Summer or Raven, so if that's what you were looking for, sorry.**

 **Guest (Cat): Thank you so much! It's been a real challenge trying to figure out how to make team STRQ work since there is only really Qrow that has been given any real screen time. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and hope you'll continue to do so.**

 **The Exiled Darkness: Thank you for telling me exactly what you enjoyed! It helps me know what my readers genuinely enjoy, and what they tend to gloss over, so now I know writing some flashbacks isn't a waste of time!**

 **Fuyuriku: Thanks for catching those, and I wasn't aware that 'ax' wasn't as common as 'axe'. I guess I associate the latter with the body spray too much.**

 **THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight: I'm happy the pacing isn't as rushed as I felt it was, and I'm glad you enjoyed Naruto beating on Team STRQ. Once again, your reviews are super helpful, and I hope to read another one soon!**

 **For everybody who has told me to update... HERE YOU GO!**

 **If I didn't respond to you personally, it's either because you just said something like "update" or "Nice Chapter", or the question you asked was already answered above.**


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